*Tw: article contains homophobic language and stupidity*
Texas pastor Jonathan Shelley, leader of the anti-gay Stedfast Baptist Church, said in a city council meeting this week that Pride Month is an “abomination” that shouldn’t be promoted in the local community.
Just a week after refusing to apologize for using homophobic slurs in sermons, pastor Jonathan Shelley addressed a city council meeting in Arlington, Texas, where he told the council and crowd that gay people should be executed in accordance with God’s rule.
In a video shared to Twitter by blogger and activist Hemant Mehta, Shelley addresses the Arlington City Council as a meeting was being held to discuss acknowledging Pride month.
Shelley said that he’s “horrified and ashamed” that the city decided to “promote and solicit Pride”, going on to say that there’s nothing to celebrate about Pride, because “it’s an abomination” according to the Bible.
“I don’t understand why we celebrate what used to be a crime not long ago. God has already ruled that murder, adultery, witchcraft, rape, bestiality and homosexuality are crimes worthy of capital punishment,” Shelley continued.
Christian hate-preacher Jonathan Shelley spoke at today’s Arlington (TX) City Council meeting against an acknowledgment of Pride Month.
He insisted gay people deserved to be executed.
His supported (who filmed the exchange) applauded him, but many others openly jeered. pic.twitter.com/SprktJFr4h
— Hemant Mehta (@hemantmehta) May 25, 2022
So I guess we won’t be seeing him shirtless on a Pride float any time soon. We can thank God for that, at least.
It isn’t the first time Shelley has aired his gross views about the LGBTQ+ community in public.
He once celebrated the death of Jim Fahy, a 75-year-old gay man and member of the Fort Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus, who was tragically killed when a driver swerved into the Wilton Manors Pride Parade.
“And, you know, it’s great when trucks accidentally go through those, you know, parades,” the pastor Shelley told congregants.
“I think only one person died. So hopefully we can hope for more in the future.”
In March this year he delivered an anti-LGBT fuelled sermon to children, preaching about how queer people are going to hell.
A clip from that video is below:
Christian hate-preacher Jonathan Shelley’s sermons sound even worse when you see children sitting in the front. pic.twitter.com/iwq51y2JRD
— Hemant Mehta (@hemantmehta) March 6, 2022