Chaos erupted inside the Virginia State Legislature this week when a local pastor unleashed a seven-minute homophobic diatribe on the House floor.
Rev. Robert Grant Jr. of the Father’s Way Church in Warrenton, Virginia was invited to give the opening prayer for the legislative session. Generally speaking, the ceremonial prayer is meant to be nonpolitical and appeal to a broad number of faiths and backgrounds.
Evidently, Grant didn’t get that memo. Or, rather, he just didn’t care.
After warning House members they were at risk of suffering God’s wrath for not following the words of the Bible, Grant began railing against same-sex marriage.
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“Marriage is to join a biological male and a biological female in holy matrimony, not to provoke the Almighty God,” he raged. “Without laws to protect traditional marriage, Virginia will be reduced to increased fatherless children and welfare victims and homelessness, a tax burden to us all!”
As he was speaking, someone from the room called out, “Is this a prayer or a sermon?”
“I pray that this chamber will uphold the Virginia family,” Grant continued. “That the bills and laws being passed will always protect the Biblical traditional marriage as God instructed the first man and the first woman in the Bible. That the two shall be one flesh. That the man and the woman shall be fruitful and multiply.”
“We should never rewrite what God has declared!”
Many Democrats began walking out of the sermon, and even some Republicans started moving to the back of the chamber to get as far away from Grant as possible. Eventually, Speaker of the House Eileen Filler-Corn abruptly ended the madness by banging her gavel and breaking into the Pledge of Allegiance.
Grant had been invited to give the prayer by Del. Michael Webert, a Republican. As he was shuffled out of the room, a member of his entourage asked reporters if they knew sodomy used to be punishable with death.
Speaking to a local media outlet afterwards, Grant said: “I think that the statehouse belongs to all the citizens. And all the citizens have a voice. If it’s my turn to have a voice, and I am a pastor, what do you expect from me? If you don’t want to hear what a pastor has to say, then don’t invite one.”
Outrage over Grant’s words was bipartisan.
“It was totally disrespectful to all of us, all of us in this House,” Del. Luke Torian, a Democrat, said afterwards.
“I don’t know if he was ill-instructed or didn’t realize what he was here to do,” added Del. Matt Fariss, a Republican. “This wasn’t the place or the time to do all of that. This is a time we need to be working together and not being divisive.”
GlobeTrotter
So you invite a pastor to speak and then get offended when he begins to sermonize?
Serves them right! Religion has no place whatsoever in places of government. If you want to hear a prayer, go to church.
Harley
Here here
SumSay
He wasn’t invited to SPEAK, he was invited to give a prayer. That’s all. Good thing she ended it when she did.
fur_hunter
Thank you very much!!!
Cam
What the hell are they doing bringing a Pastor in to open up the government?
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Countdown til this smcubag pernocious abhorrent puddle of puke’s kiddie sex scandal erupts….10. 9.8.7……
fur_hunter
You made me laugh. Thank you.
LubbockGayMale
How long before Trump gives this scumbag the keys to the White House? Or maybe the same medal given to Limbaugh????
fur_hunter
You DO have a point there.
Kangol2
Reverend Self-Loathing Closet Queen!
ingyaom
Way to close the barn door after the horse is gone! Marriage is no longer about joining “biological males and biological females in holy matrimony”around here.
fur_hunter
How is it that so many people forget the principle established by the Founding Fathers called Separation of Church and State? And these fundamentalists who quote from a book written by MEN irk the s hit out of me. God had NOTHING to do with it. If you think so, PROVE IT!!!! Show me one part that you can PROVE was written by God. NONE OF IT WAS. And there are so many mistakes and errors in it that if God actually DID have a hand in its conception, God is a MORON and does NOT know all things. Do your research before you open your ignorant mouth.
UlfRaynor
Wuh, can’t you read? It’s right there in the New Testament; you know, right there in the chapter Jesus wrote.
Bob
And even if it was written correctly the first time, there have been so many translations that it says something totally different now.
Mattster
Ulfraynor, Jesus didn’t write any of the Bible, most of it was written hundreds of years after his death, by people that didn’t know Jesus, or each other. No wonder it’s a bit garbled.
toddlicious
I see a kiddy porn scandal in his future.
Karrnal
A Pastor is expected to be educated and literate, experienced in public speaking. This dude can’t even read his speech out loud without getting tongue tied.
brahbate
Ha. I’m surprised he didn’t work a “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve” into all that babbling.
tjack47
No place in State for Church.
Chrisk
“When a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod so hard that the slave dies under his hand, he shall be punished. If, however, the slave survives for a day or two, he is not to be punished, since the slave is his own property. (Exodus 21:20-21 NAB)”
Yeah, lets all go back to a biblical country where guys like you can be owned and people killed for the even slightest offences. Won’t be any reason for prison reform since we can just kill them on the streets.
Paton41
I have been asking Evangelical Christians for years where can I find a talking snake. These Christians won’t answer me. I think a talking snake would be great at part
taylor94
Is the pastor quoting the same bible that supports slavery? Amazing how these hateful homophobes distort a fictional book they haven’t even read.
RyanMBecker
The pastor claims:
“Without laws to protect traditional marriage, Virginia will be reduced to increased fatherless children and welfare victims and homelessness, a tax burden to us all!”
What is he talking about??? What do gays and gay marriage have to do with fatherless children, welfare victims and homelessness??? As a pastor, he probably isn’t well-informed about sex but in case anyone else is confused, gay couples generally don’t give birth to children. Especially unwanted children, which often leads to fatherlessness and being orphaned. If anything, many gays adopt, reducing the burden on welfare and social services. As for homelessness, if homophobic parents stop rejecting their gay children, there’d be fewer homeless gay teenagers. What an idiot.
pokkelbeer
Can he be found with a rent boy in a motel already… hahaha
Invader7
Miss Thang was off his many meds and having numerous psychotic episodes. He’s deranged and unstable !! What a nut job !!!