Sean Cormie, a 23-year-old Oklahoma man, filed a police report after an incident at church in which he says he was circled by 12-15 congregants, held down, and even punched by one of them as they attempted to “pray away” his homosexuality.
Cormie said the incident happened when he brought his partner to church for the first time, because his family had been asking Cormie to bring him along. Cormie said that near the end of the service, the pastor began preaching against homosexuality, and it was then that the group surrounded him, and shuffled his partner out the door.
Said Cormie to KFOR: “They hold me down, pin me down, and I'm crying, and the Holy Spirit just comes through me, and they keep speaking in tongues, praying over me. I was just crying ‘mercy, mercy.'”
1st Assembly Church pastors Bill and Tami McKissick released a statement, “On behalf of First Assembly we have been asked by the media to respond to the allegations that have been made. This began as a family matter that escalated. Our church would never condone restraint of any person unless they were engaged in violent activity. There is much more to this incident, and we are cooperating fully with law enforcement to hopefully bring all of the facts to light as a rush to judgment is not in anyone's best interest.”
