Colin Briggs, a 20-year-old Saint Thomas University student, says
that he was told he could no longer volunteer at a church's
children's ministry because he's gay.
Briggs told Global News on Monday that he had volunteered at the
Crosspoint Wesleyan Church in Fredericton, Canada since 2011. For
two years he also worked as a camp counselor.
Pastor Mark Brewer asked Briggs to stop his volunteer activities
on September 18.
“They basically told me they would prefer that I wouldn't
volunteer there because I was gay,” Brigg told Global
News. “I went to sign up again this year to volunteer and I
didn't think anything would be a big deal.”
Pastor Mark Brewer, who oversees the youth ministry, told The
News Brunswick Beacon that he asked Briggs to stop
volunteering to “avoid any potential uproar that may be caused if
families were to find out an openly gay male was working in the
children's ministry.”
“Having an openly gay male working in the children's ministry
may cause some parents to feel uncomfortable,” Brewer added.
Brewer said during Sunday's services that the incident had led to
“some unfortunate judgments” about the church. He suggested that
“more complex issues” were at play that have not been reported.
“As usual, much of what you read on the Internet is not true,”
Brewer
said, insisting that the church does not discriminate. However,
Brewer did not specifically state what the media had gotten wrong.