A North Carolina preacher didn't turn the other cheek after hearing about a gay pride event he opposed. Waving a Holy Bible, he was kissed on the cheek by a 74-year-old female gay rights supporter -- then charged that woman with assault. Taylorsville police chose not to remove the protestor who had no permit or legal right to even be at the event.
It was Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Day in the North Carolina town of Taylorsville -- an event at which a gay preacher had obtained no legal permit to protest, with o legal right at the celebration. Attendee Joan Parker admits she kissed the preacher who was "waving his arms...[with] a Bible in one hand, up and down, and screaming at the top of his lungs, 'sodomites' and 'you're going to hell,'" says Parker -- who told MSNBC in an interview that she "thought he needed a hug," and decided to give the preacher one.
The gay rights advocate says the preacher yelled to a man with a camera, to take a picture of the woman who'd hugged him -- apparently for photographic evidence he wanted for later use. That was after only a hug. It seems the preacher had plans for charges far before other things ensued. The woman then kissed the preacher on the cheek at some point -- and the preacher's accused of breaking one of the Ten Commandments, like the ninth one which states: “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor."
The gay rights advocate responsible for the hug and kiss says, "He claims I kissed him on the lips, and he's a damned liar."
The woman supporting gays isn't gay herself. Parker was at the LGBT event with her husband, the married couple from Colfax at the event to show support for activists.
The preacher's now claiming he didn't say Parker had kissed him on the lips. But it seems, if he hadn't turned that cheek, things could've been serious -- at least according to the Taylorsville man. Preacher James Edward Belcher says he turned his face as the woman came toward him: "If I hadn't turned my head, I'd have gotten it right on my mouth," claims the 49-year-old minister at New Light Baptist Church -- a church that's been accused of being a cult -- in Millers Creek, North Carolina.
Preacher Belcher's version has the married Parker really wanting him: "She ran her arms all the way around me and pulled me toward her." He claims he held his Bible in one hand, sticking both arms in the air and turning toward a police officer standing nearby who witnessed the "exchange" -- apparently so that cop could witness just how violated he'd been.
And, the preacher contends, that kiss "was just one of many attempts to silence the preaching to those in need of salvation who practice a death style that they call a lifestyle." Who knew a kiss was such an effective weapon? The government seems to have missed out on that dastardly kissing before issuing troops assault rifles.
Of 2,000 gay rights activists that attended the Saturday, it appears another 200 people had not a damn thing to do -- so joined on in as protesters. About 10%, or 200, were protestors at the LGBT event. Oddly, the number is the identical percentage for estimates of gay people in the nation. Perhaps those were the nation's closeted.
The police in Talyorsville will be fortunate to escape a lawsuit. The preacher, Belcher, was among several people showing up at the LGBT event with the intent to preach and protest -- despite the fact those protestors didn't obtain any city permit. Taylorsville Police let those protestors stay -- supposedly with some rules -- supposedly so officers didn't have to spend their time issuing citations to the protestors without permits. It's the police department for a town so large, no one even bothers with listing things like a zip code or telephone area code on its website.
Regardless of their "reasons" for allowing the protestors to stay who had no permit, Taylorsville cops may find a very difficult time in explaining why they're upholding the law in relation to some people -- like preachers -- and not for others, like the LGBT event which should've had the protestors removed.
Preacher Belcher insists on pressing charges, which the police department says wasn't expected. The "Man of God" contends police would've pressed charges against him if he'd touched a 74-year-old woman. The woman charged with assault's got a September court date in the misdemeanor charges. Police Chief Rory Collins claims it doesn't matter whether Mrs. Parker was aiming for Belcher's mouth or cheek -- that it wasn't what he calls a "show of affection" but rather "an unwanted touching".
And then there's that theory that, if police had done what they were legally supposed to follow -- in disallowing, or citing and removing the protestors who had no permit from having a presence at the event -- no incident could've occurred at all.