Special Report: The Worst Homophobic Churches in America
Empowerment Temple AME Church
Baltimore, MD
Jamal Harrison Bryant, senior pastor
“Preach, black man!” This happens to be the popular catch phrased used by his parishioners to get him all rallied up. And it usually works, especially when he’s preaching hard on the gospel of prosperity or things heavily fixated on black culture. He’s even had soft porn adult erotica writer Zane to teach the saints about sex at a Tuesday night bible study. Often billed as the next generation’s TD Jakes by some of his converts, Bryant often uses his intellect to promote Black church hyper masculinity. And that often means that gays and lesbians have no space in the place. In an open letter to President Obama, who announced his “evolving” point-of-view on same-sex marriage, Bryant wrote: “The church at its core is to be a refuge for all of God’s children, including homosexuals. There is a gay community within the Black church. We can’t ignore them or bash them. However, the church has no shades of gray when it comes to marriage. Our faith reserves marriage for a man and a woman.” Bryant went on to write that “while I am uncomfortable with the president on this position, I am more uncomfortable with the alternative an agenda that does not include the poor and platform that has not engaged minorities or the black church.”
