Episc. Priest In Bathroom “Gay Sex” Bust

Another day, another bathroom sex sting! North Carolina Coppers nabbed Boca Raton based Episcopal priest Michael Penland for soliciting an undercover officer at a rest stop and then following him in his car. Another cop pulled Penland over, issued a citation for “soliciting for a crime against nature” and sent on his way. Penland is but one of eight men arrested in a three-month sting police cleverly called “Operation Summer Heat”.

As in the Larry Craig cruising case, the ACLU says the police overstepped their bounds and violated Penland’s constitutional rights. Floridian ACLU lawyer Robert Rosenwald tells Express Gay News:

The charge is brazenly unconstitutional.
…
What [Penland] did was not a crime. It’s not wrong to proposition someone and then go home. In a case like this, what is unconstitutional is the investigation targeting gay people and arresting [them] for conduct that is lawful.

ACLU officials say Penland, who has been married for 17-years, could sue the police department, but most probably won’t come out to do it.

When news of the arrest broke earlier this month, Penland has stepped down as a youth counselor at St. Gregory’s in Boca Raton and later resigned from the church entirely. He’ll appear in court for a hearing on November 7th.