“It’s just appalling, absolutely appalling,” says OUTLine's Trevor Easton. The head of nationwide lgbti support network OUTLine is utterly appalled by the “rubbish” spouted by the leader of a West Auckland fundamentalist church, who told a gay man he’d pray for him to commit suicide. Westcity Bible Baptist Church pastor Logan Robertson is standing by an email he sent to writer and community advocate Jim Marjoram calling him a “filthy child molesting fag”. He has since added he also believes gay people should be put to death. OUTLine General Manager Trevor Easton says the comments have left him “almost speechless”. “You can’t take him seriously because it’s just rubbish. The whole thing is rubbish. And for a man who is quoting the Bible – the Bible says suicide sin as well. And he’s advocating it. Let alone the hate that he’s advocating that also is against what the Bible says. “It’s just appalling, absolutely appalling.” Easton says such rhetoric is very damaging for lgbti people in churches. “He’s a fundamentalist, obviously, and all fundamentalists – it doesn’t matter what religion they are – are dangerous. That’s what’s causing the wars in the world. But he’s equally as dangerous if he gets a following.” He hopes everyone will see through him. “I am just appalled that someone, particularly in New Zealand, can be that narrow-minded. Everyone has freedom of speech, but that hate, that’s Nazi Germany. It’s just appalling. I can’t say how strong I feel about it and how damaging it is to everyone in the rainbow community.” Trevor Easton says anyone feeling upset by the pastor’s comments is welcome to call OUTLine on 0800 OUTLINE (688 5463) or (09) 281 3409.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 8th December 2014 - 1:12pm