OPINION: Atheists support South LA pastor facing “tribunal” for LGBT advocacy



This article originally appeared on Religion Dispatches

Pastor Seth Pickens | Aaron Lee Dowell

Pastor Seth Pickens | Aaron Lee Dowell

On Sunday morning I went to a church service for the first time in decades.  

I was there as a community member to support Pastor Seth Pickens of Zion Hill Baptist Church in South Los Angeles. A few days before, I’d received an urgent plea from Teka-Lark Fleming, publisher of the local Morningside Park Chronicle newspaper, encouraging progressive Black folk to show up at Zion Hill in support of Seth’s pro-LGBTQ stance.

After publishing a column entitled “The 10 Reasons I Love LGBTQ folk” in Fleming’s paper, Pickens came under fire from church officials. The controversy erupted on the heels of internal criticism he’d received for performing a marriage ceremony for a lesbian couple last year.

See previously from Intersections’ Reporter Corps series: Growing up queer in Watts: What happens when school is still not a safe place [Read more…]