An Acworth man who once had a leadership role at a popular Cobb County church has been arrested. Cobb Police have charged him with four counts of child molestation for his alleged encounters with a 15-year-old boy who attended the church.
Cobb Police have arrested the 32-year-old former Worship in Wonders former director of operations Marcus Turner.and charged him with four counts of child molestation with a 15-year-old male church member. Nelson is the former Director of Children’s Ministry for the growing church.
Former member April Nelson says she is flabbergasted by the arrest. Nelson says she and her husband left the church because they didn’t agree with what she claims was an anti-LGBTQ+ message that she says Turner and the pastors espoused.
A Marietta church put up a sign that appears to show support for LGBTQ+ communities, but they’re now under fire for what some are calling a bait and switch. The church actually says it wants to deliver people from homosexuality.
At first glance, the banner hanging on the front of Worship With Wonders church appears to celebrate people who identify as LGBTQ+. The words “proud to be delivered” are emblazoned over a rainbow flag on this church, which is located on Powder Springs Road.
The church would not speak with FOX 5. A spokesperson referred us instead to a statement on its website that reads “The Bible is clear that any sin separates us from God. Worship With Wonders church is committed to discipling those who are seeking freedom from a sinful lifestyle.”
The church posted the same message seen on its banner on multiple electronic billboards across the city.
This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with The Salt Lake Tribune. Sign up for Dispatches to get stories like this one as soon as they are published.
This story discusses sexual assault.
Three additional men have come forward to say a therapist recommended and paid for by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints touched them inappropriately during counseling sessions related to struggles with their sexuality. The men’s statements follow allegations by three others, previously reported by The Salt Lake Tribune and ProPublica, that clinical mental health counselor Scott Owen touched them sexually during therapy.
The three who most recently came forward said their counseling sessions were paid for with money donated by church members to help those in need. The church said it has no process in place to vet the therapists its church leaders recommend.
The disclosures follow an investigation by the news organizations this summer detailing allegations against Owen, who gave up his license as a mental health worker in 2018.
Austin Millet, one of the men who have spoken out in recent weeks, said he saw Owen in 2010 while attending Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah. At that time, he was questioning if he was gay and struggling with how that fit in with the theology of his Latter-day Saint faith.
His bishop suggested he try therapy, Millet recalled, and said he wouldn’t need to worry about the cost — the church would pay the bill. He said the lay leader referred him to a local practice, Canyon Counseling. One of its co-owners, his bishop told him, was a specialist in helping gay LDS men be in romantic relationships with women. Owen was also a bishop during that time, according to the three men The Tribune/ProPublica spoke with for this story.
Millet said that when an employee at Canyon Counseling later called Millet, then 23, to set up an appointment, he was told payment was taken care of.
“It was kind of like, ‘Oh, don’t worry, we’re taking care of it behind the scenes,’” Millet remembered. “‘And your job is to just show up.’”
But Millet said his therapy sessions in Owen’s Provo office quickly turned physical and then sexual — with the therapist cuddling with him, kissing him and groping him.
Owen has not responded to allegations that he touched a number of clients inappropriately and did not answer detailed questions sent to him last week.
The Tribune/ProPublica report in August showed that Utah’s Division of Professional Licensing and LDS church officials had known about allegations of inappropriate touching involving Owen and were slow to act. Utah licensing officials say that, given the evidence they had, they believe they responded appropriately. The church said in response that it takes all matters of sexual misconduct seriously and “this case was no exception.” The church said it annotated Owen’s membership record in 2019 with a confidential marking intended to alert bishops that he was someone whose conduct has threatened the well-being of other people or the church.
In response to the more recent allegations, the church has said that it allows its church leaders to pay for therapy for its members, but added it could not say how much money, if any, bishops have paid to Owen specifically.
Sam Penrod, a spokesperson for the church, said it does not screen therapists that its leaders are paying. He said that Family Services, a nonprofit arm of the church, maintains a list of licensed professionals that bishops can refer to when recommending therapy. It does not individually vet those mental health workers, he added. That, he said, falls to individual church members.
“It is up to Church members who are referred to a therapist by a bishop or other referral to make their own decisions when it comes to using a licensed therapist,” Penrod wrote in an email.
Millet, now 36, said going to therapy with Owen was his bishop’s “firm counsel.” It was that same bishop who had given him the required ecclesiastical recommendation to attend BYU, and he feared that not following what his bishop said could impact his academic career. Losing his bishop’s endorsement meant he would not have been able to attend the church-owned university.
“Since he referred me to Scott, who was another bishop at the time, it seemed that this was required of me academically and religiously,” Millet said. “Trying to say no to either of them would have been overwhelming at that time in my life.”
Sexual touching in a therapy session is considered unethical by all major mental health professional organizations, and Utah licensers consider it “unprofessional conduct” that can lead to discipline. It’s also illegal in Utah.
State licensers stopped Owen from practicing in 2018 after investigating at least three complaints of inappropriate touching in a two-year period. Penrod has said that the LDS legal department also learned of alleged inappropriate conduct that same year. The August article from the Tribune/ProPublica revealed that one former patient had reported the alleged abuse to both his bishop and state licensers in 2016.
Since that article was published, other entities have responded: Police in Provo are investigating. Brigham Young University has reevaluated its relationship with Owen’s business. And Canyon Counseling cut ties with him before announcing in September that it was closing altogether.
But the church has not publicly reevaluated its own role in referring these men to a therapist they now say abused them.
Canyon Counseling in Provo, Utah Leah Hogsten/The Salt Lake Tribune
“Bishop Pay”
According to the church handbook, bishops can pay for clothes, food or medical services for members who are in need. The money for this comes from member donations after monthly Fast Sundays, a prayer-filled day when members are encouraged to donate what money they would have spent on food and drink to help the poor and needy.
Church guidance tells bishops that this money, called “fast offerings,” should be used to pay for only essential items, like food, clothes or housing. It may also “be used to pay for personal services such as counseling, medical care, or vocational training.”
The handbook gives little guidance as to how a bishop should recommend a therapist or other medical professional or how to ensure a church member is receiving quality care. It says that when a church member is seeking counseling about “intimacy,” a bishop should refer them to “professionals who specialize in such counseling and whose beliefs and practices are consistent with Church doctrine.”
The term “bishop pay” is listed as an option for form of payment on several websites of Utah-based therapists, usually on the same page as insurance forms and other pay rate information. Several Utah-based therapy businesses require that anyone using this payment method also sign a confidentiality waiver allowing therapists to share patient information with the patient’s bishop.
When asked what privacy expectations a church member can expect when a bishop pays for their therapy, Penrod said church leaders may follow up with a therapist to ensure the member is keeping their appointments and “pursuing goals set by the therapist.”
“Otherwise,” he said, “it is Family Services policy that HIPAA principles are closely followed and the content of sessions including diagnostics, progress notes and observations are not shared with anyone, including bishops, without a release signed by the client.”
HIPAA is a federal law to protect people’s medical records from being shared by health care providers without a patient’s knowledge.
Owen is one of several Utah therapists who have received church funds for sessions who in recent weeks have been accused of abusive behavior.
One therapist was charged last month with aggravated child abuse after the children of her business partner in an online self-improvement program were found malnourished at the therapist’s home. Her niece said during a Mormon Stories podcast interview that she handled the billing for the practice and that many clients’ bills were paid by their local church leaders.
Another therapist is facing felony charges for allegedly physically abusing a client during counseling sessions. His life coaching and therapy website offers an option for billing to be sent to bishops. It also includes a form that requires patients whose treatment is paid for by the church to agree to waive their privacy rights and allow a therapist to share any health information with their bishop “without limitation.”
Neither of these mental health professionals have entered a plea to the charges against them.
Mark, who is being identified by his middle name to protect his privacy because not all of the experiences detailed here are known to people in his life, is another of the three former patients who came forward after publication of the earlier article. He told The Tribune and ProPublica about therapy sessions the church paid for where, he said, Owen held him.
Mark began to see Owen in 2008, he said, after his church leader suggested therapy. Mark had been in the middle of a disciplinary process with the church at that time after being unfaithful to his wife with a man.
At that time, many Latter-day Saint authorities taught that being gay was a choice, and the church opposed measures to allow same-sex couples to marry. The church has since said that sexuality is not a choice, but still does not allow its members to be married to someone of their same sex.
Mark, who is being identified by his middle name to protect his privacy, was referred to Owen at a time when he was being disciplined by the church. He said he didn’t feel like he had any other choice but to go. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune)
Mark, who is bisexual, had been disfellowshipped — now called “membership restricted” — which means that while he was encouraged to attend church, he was not allowed to take the sacrament, or Communion, enter a Latter-day Saint temple or give sermons. It is considered a step below the most severe action the church can take against its members, which is excommunication, now termed “membership withdrawal.”
Though he’s no longer a believing member, Mark said it was important to him at the time to follow the guidance of his faith leader and attend counseling with Owen in order to get back into good standing with the church.
“There’s definitely a bit of pressure there,” he said. “Like what if I say no? Is that going to make my bishop think that I’m not repentant?”
Mark remembers paying a portion of the therapy cost for the handful of sessions he had with Owen. His bishop, he said, picked up the rest of the bill.
Like other former patients who spoke to The Tribune, Mark recalled how Owen had told him that he had a “fear of intimacy” and suggested that they embrace as they sat on a couch in Owen’s office. Mark did not see Owen for long, relocating shortly after their therapy sessions started.
Millet, the then-BYU student, saw Owen a year later. He said his therapy sessions began similarly, and that Owen also said he was teaching Millet to be “intimate” without being sexual. He trusted Owen because he was a therapist and a church leader, and he remembers that at first the embraces felt powerful — and positive.
“I’m this vulnerable gay kid from BYU,” Millet recalled. “I was just craving this physical touch. And it was wonderful.”
But the touching, Millet said, gradually became more sexual, and he found the sessions confusing. Owen directed Millet to take his clothes off during many sessions, Millet remembers, while the therapist remained clothed. They would often kiss, he said, with Owen touching Millet’s thighs or his bottom.
Millet kept seeing Owen for a year and a half, he said, until the therapist ended their sessions when Millet became engaged to a woman.
“We Opened an Investigation”
Even after Owen surrendered his license in 2018 in response to several patient complaints to licensers of inappropriate touching, there was no criminal investigation, and he appears to have continued to play an active role in his business. A woman who worked at Canyon Counseling for about six months last year — and who asked that her name not be used because she works as a therapist and doesn’t want to be associated with the business — said that Owen led monthly training sessions with the young therapists who worked there and recalled that he taught them about “how to incorporate theology and religion into therapy.”
The woman, whose past employment with Canyon Counseling was verified by The Tribune, said Owen had told her that he no longer saw patients because Canyon Counseling’s “business was booming” and one of the owners needed to focus their work on handling that growth. Owen did not respond to questions asking about his role in the business after he surrendered his license.
Melanie Hall, a spokesperson for Utah’s licensing division, said a therapist who teaches isn’t required to be licensed if they are not also treating patients.
It was only after the publication of the Salt Lake Tribune/ProPublica investigation, however, that Owen’s role in the business changed dramatically. First, on Aug. 15, less than two weeks after the article appeared, Owen was removed from state business records as Canyon’s Counseling registered agent. Soon after, the practice noted on its website that Owen has “no ownership nor any other affiliation in any manner” with the business.
The business itself also faced repercussions. This summer, BYU’s Student Center — where four Canyon Counseling therapists worked — began reevaluating its relationship with the business “as it learned of concerns about one of the owners,” according to university spokesperson Carri Jenkins. She said that because Owen had never practiced there, the Student Health Center was previously unaware that he had surrendered his license.
Then, in late September, Canyon Counseling announced it was closing altogether. A therapist who worked there at that time, Shawn Edgington, has since reopened the business as Palisades Counseling.
Edgington said his business has “no ties” to Owen, adding that “any alleged abuse by Mr. Owen is completely unacceptable and not condoned in any manner by Palisades Counseling.”
“Palisades Counseling and its therapists, do NOT tolerate abuse of any kind,” he wrote in an email. “Any kind of abuse of women, children, or anyone is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated in any form by Palisades Counseling and its therapists.”
Neither the church nor Utah licensers would comment on whether they reported Owen to police. But Provo police officials said the first time they learned that a former therapist in their city had been accused of sexual abuse was after the news organizations published their investigation in August.
“We opened an investigation after we saw your initial report,” Provo’s Capt. Brian Taylor told a Tribune reporter, “and we have offered interviews to anyone who has something to say about their experience at Canyon Counseling, with Dr. Scott Owen. And we continue to do that.”
Taylor said the investigation is still open, and the Provo police are seeking to speak with other people with allegations of abuse involving Owen. He said they have been in contact with “more than one” alleged victim so far.
It’s the first time local police have looked into whether Owen’s purported therapy practices are illegal.
In Utah, with few exceptions, the state licensing division is not legally required to forward information to law enforcement. At least one state — Ohio — mandates that medical boards report felonies to the police. The Federation of State Medical Boards encouraged boards in a 2020 report to err on the side of reporting physicians to the police in cases of allegations of sexual misconduct.
“Best practices dictate that boards have a duty to report to law enforcement anytime they become aware of sexual misconduct or instances of criminal behavior,” the report recommended.
Hall, the spokesperson for Utah’s licensing division, said licensers do collaborate and report crimes to police agencies “often,” though she would not not explain under what circumstances they would do so.
Several Catholic priests held a ceremony blessing same-sex couples outside Cologne Cathedral on Wednesday night in a protest against the city’s conservative archbishop, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki.
Their protest was triggered by Cologne church officials’ criticism of a priest from Mettmann, a town near Duesseldorf, who in March had held a “blessing ceremony for lovers” — including same-sex couples.
Officials from the Cologne archdiocese, which Mettmann belongs to, had reprimanded the priest afterward and stressed that the Vatican doesn’t allow blessings of same-sex couples, German news agency dpa reported.
The blessing of same-sex couples on Wednesday was the latest sign of rebellion of progressive believers in Germany’s most populous diocese with about 1.8 million members.
Several hundred people showed up for the outdoor blessing service for same-sex and also heterosexual couples. Waving rainbow flags, they sang the Beatles hit “All You Need Is Love,” dpa reported. A total of about 30 couples were blessed.
The German government’s LGBTQ commissioner called the service an important symbol for the demand to recognize and accept same-sex couples in the Roman Catholic Church.
“It is mainly thanks to the church’s grassroots that the church is opening up more and more,” Sven Lehmann said, according to dpa. “Archbishop Woelki and the Vatican, on the other hand, are light years behind social reality.”
Catholic believers in the Cologne archdiocese have long protested their deeply divisive archbishop and have been leaving in droves over allegations that he may have covered up clergy sexual abuse reports.
The crisis of confidence began in 2020, when Woelki, citing legal concerns, kept under wraps a report he commissioned on how local church officials reacted when priests were accused of sexual abuse. That infuriated many Cologne Catholics. A second report, published in March 2021, found 75 cases in which high-ranking officials neglected their duties.
The report absolved Woelki of any neglect of his legal duty with respect to abuse victims. He subsequently said he made mistakes in past cases involving sexual abuse allegations, but insisted he had no intention of resigning.
Two papal envoys were dispatched to Cologne a few months later to investigate possible mistakes by senior officials in handling cases. Their report led Pope Francis to give Woelki a “spiritual timeout ” of several months for making major communication errors.
In March 2022, after his return from the timeout, the cardinal submitted an offer to resign, but so far Francis hasn’t acted on it.
Germany’s many progressive Catholics have also been at odds with the Vatican for a long time.
Several years ago, Germany’s Catholic Church launched a reform process with the country’s influential lay group to respond to the clergy sexual abuse scandals, after a report in 2018 found at least 3,677 people were abused by clergy between 1946 and 2014. The report found that the crimes were systematically covered up by church leaders and that there were structural problems in the way power was exercised that “favored sexual abuse of minors or made preventing it more difficult.”
The Vatican, however, has tried to put the brakes on the German church’s controversial reform process, fearing proposals concerning gay people, women and sexual morals will split the church.
On Wednesday night, just across from the hundreds of believers celebrating the blessings of same-sex couples, there were also about a dozen Catholics who demonstrated against the outdoor service, dpa reported. They held up a banner that said “Let’s stay Catholic.”
Catholic schools in Worcester, Massachusetts have issued a new policy that orders students to use their names and pronouns assigned at birth and conduct themselves in a manner “consistent with their biological sex,” according to a statement issued by the local diocese on August 15.
The policy affects more than 5,000 students in 21 schools in the city 45 miles west of Boston.
While the guidance claims that bullying and harassment based on sexual orientation or gender identity “will not be tolerated,” the policy goes on to say that “students may not advocate, celebrate or express same-sex attraction in such a way as to cause confusion or distraction in the context of Catholic school classes, activities or events.”
“We do not serve anyone’s greater good by falsifying the truth, for it is only the truth that frees us for the full life that God offers to each of us,” the diocese said.
The strict guidance stands in contrast to the spirit of statements issued by Pope Francis, who has asked “Who am I to judge?” when questioned about gay priests in the church.
Earlier this year, Pope Francis said, “Being homosexual isn’t a crime.”
Despite those sentiments, the diocese quotes Francis to argue in favor of the discriminatory policy.
“As Pope Francis notes, we must always respect the sacred dignity of each individual person, but that does not mean the Church must accept the confused notions of secular gender ideology.”
The new policy was approved by Bishop Robert J. McManus, well-known in Worcester for his religious orthodoxy.
Last year, McManus gained national attention for stripping the Jesuit-run Nativity School of Worcester of its Catholic designation after leaders there refused to lower Black Lives Matter and Pride flags.
The school serves primarily low-income boys of color in grades five through eight.
McManus argued in an open letter that the sentiments associated with the flags were “contrary to Catholic teaching.”
According to McManus, the Black Lives Matter banner had been co-opted by “factions which also instill broad-brush distrust of police and those entrusted with enforcing our laws,” while the Pride flag contradicted Catholic teaching that marriage is between a man and a woman.
Flying the two flags sent “a mixed, confusing and scandalous message to the public about the Church’s stance on these important moral and social issues,” the letter read.
In Worcester, Joshua Croke, president of LGBTQ+ nonprofit Love Your Labels, called the bishop’s new policy both unsurprising and harmful.
“He has a long history of anti-LGBTQ practices and positions,” Croke told The New York Times.
The doctrinaire policy is an order for kids to “stay in the closet,” Croke said.
Authorities in Plano, Texas, are investigating what they call “an intentionally set fire” at a Unitarian Universalist church Sunday, just weeks after it was targeted for criticism in a video by an anti-LGBTQ Christian YouTuber.
A passerby spotted flames coming from the Community Unitarian Universalist Church early Sunday, Plano Fire-Rescue said in a statement. The fire was around the front door and was extinguished quickly, causing no injuries, it said.
The department is leading the criminal investigation into the fire, with the city’s police department working on its own investigation, authorities told NBC News.
The church called the incident “a firebomb attack” in a statement on its Facebook page, saying “an incendiary device with a chemical accelerant was thrown or placed at the front doors of the main church building.”
It also referred to the visit from right-wing content creator Bo Alford, who goes by “bodittle” on social media, less than a month earlier.
“Church officials have been reviewing building security and working with the Plano Police Department since the intrusion of a hate group in the church building during and after Worship Service on Sunday, June 25. That group has posted video of their activities inside the church on various social media sites.”
Church board member Jodie Zoeller Bloom confirmed that the statement referred to Alford’s video, titled “We acted LGBT at LGBT Church,” which he uploaded to YouTube on July 12.
YouTubers Bo Alford, right, Cassady Campbell, center, and another man outside the Community Unitarian Universalist Church in Plano, Texas.via YouTube
In the video, Alford, fellow YouTuber Cassady Campbell and another man film themselves visiting the Plano church. They ask the congregation about their beliefs while in their words, “pretending to be LGBTQ” with the goal of “testing” the church’s theology and exposing “false teachers.”
At the end of the video, which has been viewed more than 200,000 times, the men stand by the church sign and ask viewers to “pray for these people,” calling the church “pagan and satanic.”
In an email, Alford said, “First and foremost, my prayers go out to anyone effected by the fire. As to the accusations, My channel spreads the message of Jesus and his love for us. If you watch the video you will see the members of the church having nothing but nice things to say about us. She enjoyed our conversation and even ended it with a hug. The fact we are being labeled as a hate group and being tied to this fire in any way is appalling.”
In his social media bios, Alford describes himself as, “Believer Of Christ YouTuber/ Boxer/Pro Lib Troller.” His videos often feature him and his friends “pranking” politically and socially liberal Americans, particularly focusing on members of the LGBTQ community.
Authorities have not suggested any connection between Alford’s visit and subsequent video and the church fire. Plano police told the Dallas Morning News on Sunday that the department “cannot confirm” the fire “as a hate crime” at this time, though the investigation is ongoing.
The LGBTQ+ community is under siege, facing an onslaught of attacks across our nation. Underscoring the urgency of this crisis, the Human Rights Campaign declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ Americans for the first time in its history. Discriminatory policies and the looming threat of violence have forced many transgender individuals to flee their homes.
Behind this assault on LGBTQ+ rights lies a relentless wave of far-right Christian messaging. Despite claims that these policies aim to protect children or safeguard the integrity of women’s sports, the truth is that this surge of hate is rooted in the belief that being LGBTQ+ is somehow ungodly.
As a Black queer reverend who hails from a small town in Texas, I am intimately familiar with this messaging. It permeates every aspect of society, making it impossible to confront the anti-LGBTQ+ movement without addressing this fundamental belief head-on.
Years of rigorous religious study have led me to a profound realization: The Bible does not explicitly discuss homosexuality or transgender people. Rather, every discriminatory interpretation targeting the LGBTQ+ community is a product of cultural biases and historical conditions. In fact, the more I delved into scripture, the clearer it became to me that Jesus, in essence, was queer.
Before exploring the texts, it is crucial to recognize that extremist Christianity lies at the core of nearly every anti-LGBTQ+ effort. For example, a prominent pastor in my home state of Texas, known for protesting LGBTQ+ events, declared that those who practice such lifestyles are opposed to God and will face eternal damnation. Likewise, State Rep. Randy Fine of Florida, a key figure behind the banning of gender-affirming care for minors, asserted that God does not make mistakes with our children.
An investigation by the Associated Press recently revealed that a significant number of anti-trans bills originate from far-right groups rooted in Christianity, such as the Family Research Council.
It is astounding that the actual Bible text provides no solid support for the generally held anti-LGBTQ+ viewpoint. It is only an extrapolation that influential people have used to further their own agendas.
In my biblical exploration, I discovered that Jesus embodies queerness. Queerness extends beyond gender and sexuality; it is fundamentally about being at odds with the world around you. This resonates strongly with Jesus, who was consistently cast out and demonized by society.
Consider when Jesus returned to his hometown of Nazareth and preached in the synagogue. Those who initially embraced him turned against him and even attempted to cause him harm. Jesus also frequently clashed with religious leaders who eerily resemble those who currently assert with unwavering certainty that being LGBTQ+ is a sin. On one occasion, the Pharisees sought to destroy him after he healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath.
Furthermore, the Bible teaches us that Christ encompasses all things. If this holds true, then Christ is also trans, gay, straight, Black, white, and much more. In this light, queerness is not just something to be accepted—it is divine.
Ultimately, the Bible does not provide a clear and universal directive on matters of sexuality. However, it does unequivocally instruct us to love everyone, particularly the vulnerable and marginalized.
Therefore, it is incumbent upon us, as people of faith, to challenge the prevailing narratives that seek to marginalize and harm the LGBTQ+ community. We must reclaim the true gospel—love, life, and the pursuit of justice.
In the face of adversity, we should stand as allies and advocates for the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals. It is time to dismantle the harmful interpretations and cultural biases that have been erroneously associated with our religious texts. We must reject the misguided notion that being LGBTQ+ is somehow incompatible with our faith. On the contrary, embracing diversity and celebrating the uniqueness of every individual is a reflection of the divine within us.
In this critical moment, we have an opportunity to reclaim and redefine the narrative. Let us recognize the LGBTQ+ community as beloved children of God, deserving of dignity, respect, and equal rights. Together, we can create a society that affirms the inherent worth of every individual, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
It is in this pursuit that we honor the true essence of our faith and create a world where every individual can live authentically, free from fear and prejudice.
Rev. Karmen Michael Smith is the Director of the Center for Community Engagement and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary.
Large majorities of U.S. adults across different racial, ethnic, and religious identities oppose religious-based discrimination against LGBTQ+ people, according to a new Williams Institute report.
Even majorities of Republicans oppose religious-based anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination, the report found. Its findings suggest that Republican-led attacks on LGBTQ+ civil rights — many of which are couched in religious terms — are actually opposed by most American adults.
A survey of non-LGBTQ Americans show large majorities disagree with right-wing discrimination.
The data came from the Williams Institute’s September 2022 survey of a nationally representative sample of 1,003 adults.
Approximately 84% of survey respondents said they opposed religious-based denials of healthcare to LGBTQ+ people, 74% opposed religious-based anti-LGBTQ+ employment discrimination, and 71% opposed business employees denying services to LGBTQ+ people based on the employees or employer’s religious beliefs.
Over 80% of respondents in all non-white racial and ethnic groups opposed the use of religious beliefs to deny LGBTQ+ people business services, medical care, and employment. About 70% of white respondents felt the same. Female, younger, or college-educated respondents were also more likely to oppose religious-based anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination than respondents who are men, older in age, or non-college educated.
While Democrats unsurprisingly opposed these various types of religious-based anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination by about 90%, the report surprisingly found that Republican majorities also opposed such discrimination: 52% opposed religious-based refusal of business services to LGBTQ+ people, 54% opposed religious-based anti-LGBTQ+ employment discrimination, and 71% opposed religious-based anti-LGBTQ+ healthcare discrimination.
Respondents who personally know LGBTQ+ people were more likely to oppose such religious-based discrimination, the report found. However, even respondents who don’t personally know LGBTQ+ people were also opposed to religious-based anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination by margins of 65% to 80%.
Even majorities of Protestant/Christian, Catholic, and non-Christian faiths opposed such religious-based anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination.
When asked about their support for allowing religious-based anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination, less than 30% of respondents in almost every different demographic supported allowing such discrimination.
These findings matter specifically because Republicans have introduced over 400 anti-LGBTQ+ bills in state legislatures nationwide. Many have been couched in religious justifications.
Florida, for example, passed a law in May that allows any medical worker or insurer to deny care to anyone based on “ethical, moral, or religious beliefs.” The U.S. Supreme Court is also about to issue a ruling on whether religious beliefs should permit public-facing businesses to violate LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination laws.
“Recent efforts by some state legislatures to expand religious exemptions from LGBTQ-inclusive non-discrimination laws are largely out of alignment with the views of most Americans,” wrote Christy Mallory, Legal Director at the Williams Institute and author of the study. “More than three in four Americans now favor civil rights laws protecting LGBTQ people against religiously motivated discrimination.”
A Catholic “Pride Mass” at Duquesne University was canceled at the urging of the Pittsburgh diocese after being bombarded with messages from anti-LGBTQ+ protestors.
Planned by the organization Catholics for Change in our Church, the mass was meant to be promoted as a service held in solidarity with LGBTQ+ Catholics. But according to local news outlet WESA, all hell broke loose when a flyer referring to the event as a “Pride Mass” was obtained and published by the far-right Daily Signal. The flyer was reportedly put out by a parish member without approval from the organizers.
Her rhetoric is getting more combative, saying trans women are just faking it so that they can attack cis women in the bathroom.
In a letter calling for the cancellation of the event, Bishop David Zubik said the messages the diocese received “used condemning and threatening, and some might say hateful, language not in keeping with Christian charity.”
Zubik also emphasized he never approved the mass.
“This event was billed as a ‘Pride Mass’ organized to coincide with Pride Month, an annual secular observance that supports members of the LGBTQ community on every level, including lifestyle and behavior, which the Church cannot endorse,” he wrote.
He claimed that the Church welcomes LGBTQ+ people but that it “cannot endorse behavior contrary to what we know to be God’s law.”
“We are very sad and very frustrated,” said Kevin Hayes, president of Catholics for Change in our Church. Hayes said the organization just wanted to “have LGBTQ Catholics feel welcomed as beloved sons and daughters of a loving God and just be affirmed for who they are within the context of the Eucharist, which we feel is appropriate.”
Hayes also said that the group held a mass for LGBTQ+ Catholics last year and no one complained. But anti-LGBTQ+ vitriol from the right has been growing more and more extreme, and this year, extremists have made it their mission to take down any company or organization that supports Pride.
“It concerns me that our Christian brothers and sisters became angry over the mere support of the LGBTQ community by having them participate with us in a mass,” said Deacon Herb Riley of the St. Joseph the Worker’s LGBTQ ministry, who was helping to plan the service, to WESA.
Creighton University theology professor Todd Salzman added that despite the fact that polls show the majority of Catholics support LGBTQ+ people, bishops have been hesitant to follow suit.
Salzman said Zubik’s decision to cancel the event validated the protestors’ actions. He also called out the hypocrisy of stances like Zubik’s.
“The church does not exclude Catholics who practice artificial birth control, even though the church condemns that — the vast majority of Catholics do practice artificial birth control in a marital relationship,” he said. “So there’s a singling out of LGBTQ people.”
Residents have been left stunned after antisemitic and anti-trans flyers were recently distributed across multiple Atlanta neighborhoods.
According to Fox 5, the flyers appear to have come from a group called the Goyim Defense League, which the Anti-Defamation League describes as “a loose network of individuals connected by their virulent antisemitism” whose “goal is to cast aspersions on Jews and spread antisemitic myths and conspiracy theories.”
Doctors could get up to 10 years in prison under the new law.
One of the flyers said Jews are behind “the rise in transgenderism” and included photos of trans leaders superimposed with Jewish stars. The flyer also warned of a “4000% explosion in kids identifying as transgender” and said kids are being “forced to unlearn boy-girl differences.”
Other flyers declared “every single aspect of feminism is Jewish” and “every single aspect of the Jewish Talmud is Satanic.”
“We just need to be more open and kind,” one resident, Caroline Joe, told Atlanta News First. “It’s kind of cowardly actually to just come into a neighborhood and distribute information like that.”
“I think the best places for those messages are in the trash can,” said another resident, Brian Davis. “I think we need to start treating people better, and I encourage whoever did this to go out there and find a Jewish person or a Black person or a gay person and befriend them.”
The FBI told the news agency that while they are of the situation, the distributors of the flyers do not appear to have broken federal law and are exercising their first amendment rights.
The flyers were found in the district of City Councilmember Lilliana Bakhtiari, the first nonbinary official elected in Atlanta. Bakhtiari called the flyers “vile” and “repugnant” and said their office “has been in regular communication” with the Atlanta Police and leaders of the affected communities.
“I will continue to extend myself – and my platform – as a resource to any person targeted on the basis of exclusion,” they said.
A statement from the Atlanta Police Department said it is “not aware of any criminal acts related to the flyers. However, their distribution has led to a heightened level of awareness throughout our department, and we have increased patrols around where the flyers were found.”
Georgia state Rep. Saira Draper (D) told Rough Draft Atlanta she is “appalled and disgusted” and that “this is not an isolated incident of hate.”
“As a state legislator, I can’t help but view this incident and our legislative policy choices as related. During the 2023 legislative session, the Georgia General Assembly failed to pass proposed legislation to curb rising rates of antisemitism.”
“Concurrently, the General Assembly prioritized the passage of legislation that discriminates against and harms transgender children and their families. There is a direct line between these policy decisions and creating an environment that emboldens hate groups and normalizes discriminatory rhetoric. It’s not enough for leaders to say they don’t tolerate hate; our policy agenda must do the same.”
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens (D) also condemned the flyers, saying he is “deeply disturbed.”
Ugandan lawmakers have passed extreme legislation, that includes the death penalty for repeat offenders, requires people to report anyone suspected of being gay or lesbian to the authorities, and could send activists to jail for 20 years. President Yoweri Museveni has 30 days to sign the bill for it to become law.
This is an apt moment to recall Pope Francis’s recent statements that laws criminalizing homosexuality are “unjust,” and that the Catholic Church can and should oppose them. Recognizing that certain Catholic bishops support such laws, the Pope remarked on the need for change within the Church and emphasized the importance of recognizing the dignity of all human beings. Anglican and Presbyterian church leaders joined the Pope in condemning criminal penalties for same-sex conduct.
Yet, religious leaders in Uganda, including the Anglican Archbishop, Rt. Rev. Stephen Samuel Kaziimba, had been urging the passage of this insidious bill. The Ugandan bill expands the existing criminalization of same-sex conduct to create a legal framework for systematic persecution and social exclusion based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Ugandan Catholic clergy used the occasion of Ash Wednesday, a Christian ritual of repentance, to condemn homosexuality in the strongest terms, adding to a chorus of denunciation by public figures that has stoked a moral panic in Uganda.
Bishop Sanctus Lino Wanok, depicted homosexuality as “not human” and akin to “death”, while Fr. Agabito Arinaitwe, a curate in the important parish of the Uganda Martyrs Catholic Shrine, which commemorates the execution of early Catholic converts who refused the sexual advances of Mwanga II, the 19th century Buganda king, said, with reference to homosexuality: “It’s time we turn away from our evil deeds and turn back to the Lord.”
Since the passage of the bill, Catholic leaders have undertaken to discuss the content of the bill and announce ‘the position of the Catholic Church in Uganda.
“Being homosexual isn’t a crime,” Pope Francis said. “We are all children of God, and God loves us as we are and for the strength that each of us fights for our dignity.” He subsequently added that “Criminalizing people with homosexual tendencies is an injustice.” And that “Criminalization is a serious problem.” These are welcome statements from Pope Francis, renewing emphasis on existing Catholic Church doctrine that condemns violence, criminal penalties, and unjust discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Similarly, 10 years ago, South African Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba called on everyone to “Respect the gift of difference,” adding, “I cannot allow people to be discriminated, and I cannot allow people to meet violence, just on the basis of their sexual orientation”.
For nearly a decade, Human Rights Watch has called on the Vatican to condemn government practices that condone violence and unjust discrimination, including the criminalization of same-sex conduct.
As we wrote to the Pope in 2014, while human rights principles and Church teaching are not always aligned when it comes to issues of gender and sexuality, we can agree that “respect for human dignity requires concrete actions to create an environment in which people in sexual and gender minorities can live peacefully as full members of society.”
As we have repeatedly documented, laws criminalizing homosexuality are not only unjust, they foment violence and abuse against LGBT people, as examples in Jamaica, Cameroon, Uganda, and Uzbekistan vividly testify.
Sadly, as the Pope acknowledges, Catholic leaders have often failed to condemn anti-LGBT laws, at times explicitly or implicitly endorsing them. In Zambia, for example, Catholic bishops recently reiterated that “[p]racticing homosexuality constitutes a criminal offence . . . and the law has to be respected.” Singapore’s archbishop initially opposed the recent repeal of a colonial-era anti-sodomy law, and only after the law was repealed stated the local church did not “seek to criminalise the LGBT [but to prevent so-called] reverse discrimination [against Catholics].” Some 67 countries still criminalize same-sex sexual activity, and a number of them can or do impose the death penalty.
Yet despite the reticence of local leaders, there is an opportunity for change. In October of this year, Catholic leaders will converge in the Vatican for a meeting of the Synod of Bishops. This meeting marks the culmination of a two-year consultation process with Catholic clergy and laity from around the world. Encouragingly, the Vatican’s working document for the Synod acknowledges the need for “a more meaningful dialogue and a more welcoming space” for those marginalized by the Church, including LGBT people.
Religious leaders should speak out unequivocally against a bill that metes out lengthy jail terms, or even death, for consensual same-sex relations, curtails any advocacy on the rights of LGBT people, and requires people to report anyone thought to be gay or lesbian to the police. Pope Francis himself could fall foul of this odious law.
