Pastor Sean Harris has given a
halfhearted apology for calling on parents to discipline their
children to conform to gender stereotypes during a sermon in support
of Amendment One on Sunday.
“If I had to say it again, I would
say it differently, no doubt,” Harris told The
Fayetteville Observer. “Those weren't planned words, but
what I do stand by is that the word of God makes it clear that
effeminate behavior is ungodly. I'm not going to compromise on
that.”
Harris'
sermon on Amendment One was part of a campaign encouraging
religious leaders to reach out to congregants in support of the
amendment, which would ban marriage, civil unions and possibly
domestic partnerships for gay and lesbian couples in North Carolina.
After insisting that marriage equality
is not a civil rights issue – no one was born gay, he said –
Harris called on parents to squash non-conforming behaviors out of
their children.
“Can I make it any clearer? Dads,
the second you see that son dropping the limp wrist, you walk over
there and crack that wrist. Man up. Give them a good punch. OK?”
Harris is the senior pastor of Berean
Baptist Church in Fayetteville, which operates a
kindergarten-through-12th-grade school, Berean Baptist Academy.
Harris said he “would never advocate”
hitting a child.