After 23-year-old Sean Cormie came out as gay earlier this year, there was some inevitable family tension. But Cormie was nice enough to join his mother at church this month, bringing along his partner.

But according to him, things got weird by the end of the service at First Assembly of God in Blackwell:

Cormie said… 12 to 15 congregants circled around [partner Gary] Gardner and himself, their prayer growing louder. Meanwhile, they said the pastor began making statements against homosexuality. “‘It’s a sin, it’s an abomination, you need to realize, wake up, and see it for a sin,’” Cormie said.

It got even worse after the men escaped the prayer circle; unfortunately, only Gardner was able to leave the building. Cormie wasn’t allowed to go.

“They hold me down, pin me down, and I’m crying, and the Holy Spirit just comes through me, and they keep speaking in tongues, praying over me.” Cormie said he was even punched in the face. “I was just crying ‘mercy, mercy.'”

The church has denied all of this:

Pastors Bill and Tami McKissick said in a statement, “On behalf of First Assembly we have been asked by the media to respond to the allegations that have been made. This began as a family matter that escalated. Our church would never condone restraint of any person unless they were engaged in violent activity. There is much more to this incident, and we are cooperating fully with law enforcement to hopefully bring all of the facts to light as a rush to judgment is not in anyone’s best interest.”

That’s… not exactly a denial. They may reject “restraint,” but it’s not like they’re rejecting the idea that praying can cure homosexuality. What was the family matter? How and why did it escalate?

Once he was set free, Cormie immediately filed a police report. According to law enforcement, the attack is under investigation, but police declined to comment any further.

Conservative Christians like to say that all sins are equal. And yet, you don’t even hear about assaults like this over sins like lying, gossiping, or stealing. Homosexuality is treated as the sin to end all sins — and the so-called “treatments” for it don’t make people any less gay. They just traumatize the victims and bring appalled onlookers several steps closer to atheism.

