NC Baptist Church Forbids All Weddings Until Gays Can Marry

Raleigh's Pullen Memorial Baptist Church voted on Sunday to bar its pastor from performing any weddings until gay and lesbian couples can marry, the News Observer reports:

The congregants said in a formal statement that current North Carolina law - and the language proposed for a vote next year on an amendment to the state Constitution - discriminates against same-sex couples "by denying them the rights and privileges enjoyed by heterosexual married couples."

"As people of faith, affirming the Christian teaching that before God all people are equal, we will no longer participate in this discrimination," the church's statement says.

The vote was unanimous and brought tears to the eyes of some of the 100 or so members who stood to vote in favor of the "statement on marriage ceremonies."

The pastor, Nancy Petty, had previously told her congregation that the discrimination "had become a burden on her conscience."

Anti-Gay Pastor Eddie Long Hit with Third Lawsuit Claiming He Coerced a Young Man into Having Sex

This morning I posted about Atlanta megachurch pastor Eddie Long and the lawsuits charging him with coercing male church members and employees into having sex.

Now there's a third:

"According to the lawsuit filed today in DeKalb County, Long welcomed Jamal Parris, who was 14 years old at the time, into his circle of 'Spiritual Sons.' Long allegedly lavished gifts on the small, intimate group of young male parishioners who'd entered into a "covenant" with the pastor. Much like the other lawsuits, Long is accused of using his spiritual position and scripture to defend the alleged sexual encounters. The relationship turned sexual after 2004, the lawsuit claims, when Parris, who by then was 17 and had started working at New Birth as Long's personal assistant, accompanied the pastor on trips across the country in the church's private plane and made private visits to his DeKalb County guesthouse and living area at the megachurch. According to the suit, in 2009, Parris — whom Long allegedly encouraged to call him 'Daddy' — started a relationship with a girlfriend, distanced himself from the pastor, and ultimately left the church."

A copy of the Parris complaint here (PDF).

Long has so far denied the allegations and is holding a news conference Thursday morning.