Replies to post #109475 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

[StephanieVanbryce]

Atlanta pastor Bishop Eddie Long denies sex claims from church members

Bishop Eddie Long, megachurch founder and campaigner against homosexuality, faces civil actions from three men


Bishop Eddie Long (left) greets President George Bush at his New Life megachurch in Atlanta in 2006.

Bishop Eddie Long, the pastor who built the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta into a 25,000-member megachurch and publically campaigned against homosexuality, has denied accusations by three former male members of his congregation that he coerced them into having sex.

Two of the three men, then aged 17 and 18, allege that Long plied them with gifts including cash, cars and trips abroad. But Long's lawyers say he "categorically denies the allegations." A third man today launched a civil action against Long, the church and a related youth academy.

In 2006 Long's church was the venue for the funeral of Coretta Scott King, the widow of Martin Luther King, attended by President Bush and former presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and George Bush senior.

Long is an outspoken and high-profile opponent of homosexuality, once described by the Southern Poverty Law Centre as "one of the most virulently homophobic black leaders in the religiously based anti-gay movement."

Long led a campaign for a national ban on same-sex marriage and his church counsels gay members in an attempt to "turn" them straight. In 2004, he led a march to Martin Luther King's grave in Atlanta in support of amending the US constitution to define marriage as "between one man and one woman" – and so permanently barring gay marriage under US law.

The lawyer for two of the men, BJ Bernstein, told the Associated Press: "We are taking calls and we do believe, based on what the boys' statements are, that there are other victims."

Although the relationships started when the plaintiffs were older than the legal age of consent of 16 in Georgia, she said Long abused his "spiritual authority" to coerce her clients into engaging in sexual acts.

Bernstein also said that Bishop made an excessive number of phone calls and emails to her clients. "It's an irrational number of contacts," she said.

Long's lawyers said that one of the men is facing a criminal burglary charge after a break-in at Long's office in June.

Long was appointed pastor of the New Birth church in 1987. Then, the church had just 150 members. Now it boasts more than 25,000 members, a 250 acre campus and a cathedral seating 10,000 people.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/richard-adams-blog/2010/sep/22/bishop-eddie-long-scandal-atlanta

[StephanieVanbryce]

Totally Not Gay Ted Haggard Offers Words Of Support To Totally Not Gay Eddie Long



Yesterday disgraced televangelist Ted Haggard issued a statement of support for Atlanta's Bishop Eddie Long, the anti-gay marriage activist now being sued by several young men for coercing them into sex.

Ted Haggard cautioned today that no one should rush to judge the leader of an Atlanta megachurch accused of coercing three young men into sex. "Nobody's guilty until the court says he's guilty," Haggard, the former head of a 14,000-member congregation in Colorado, told AOL News today in a phone interview. Three young men from Bishop Eddie Long's church filed lawsuits this week claiming he exploited his position and used cash, cars and expensive trips to pressure them into sexual relationships. Long's attorney says the pastor "categorically denies" the allegations. Haggard said that Long deserves a fair hearing and that if the accusations are false, he will survive the ordeal. "The bishop is surrounded by people that will counsel him well," he said. [ http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/ted-haggard-says-eddie-long-deserves-fair-hearing-on-sex-allegations/19644577 ]

Also yesterday photos surfaced of Bishop Long striking an "Guys With iPhones" pose while wearing a "muscle tee." One of the young men suing Long says that the opposite-married Long emailed him the photos. Several years ago Long led an anti-marriage equality march to the gravesite of Martin Luther King.



http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2010/09/totally-not-gay-ted-haggard-offers.html