Thu. May 3, 2012
Fayetteville, North Carolina -
Pastor Sean Harris has given a halfhearted apology for calling on parents to discipline their children to conform to gender stereotypes during a sermon in support of Amendment One on Sunday.
"If I had to say it again, I would say it differently, no doubt," Harris told The Fayetteville Observer. "Those weren't planned words, but what I do stand by is that the word of God makes it clear that effeminate behavior is ungodly. I'm not going to compromise on that."
Harris' sermon on Amendment One was part of a campaign encouraging religious leaders to reach out to congregants in support of the amendment, which would ban marriage, civil unions and possibly domestic partnerships for gay and lesbian couples in North Carolina.
After insisting that marriage equality is not a civil rights issue – no one was born gay, he said – Harris called on parents to squash non-conforming behaviors out of their children.
"Can I make it any clearer? Dads, the second you see that son dropping the limp wrist, you walk over there and crack that wrist. Man up. Give them a good punch. OK?"
Harris is the senior pastor of Berean Baptist Church in Fayetteville, which operates a kindergarten-through-12th-grade school, Berean Baptist Academy.
Harris said he "would never advocate" hitting a child.
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