Civil rights leader Julian Bond said today that if the sexual coercion allegations made by four young men against Bishop Eddie Long are true, it will be a "sad victory for gay rights."
A fourth man is suing Eddie Long, the anti-gay leader of megachurch New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, first reported by the Associated Press.
The lawsuit was filed by Spencer Legrande, a former member of New Birth’s satellite church in Charlotte, N.C.
“The lawsuit said Long told LeGrande ‘I will be your dad’ and invited the 17-year-old to journey to Kenya with him in July 2005. LeGrande said that Long gave him a sleeping pill on that trip and that the two engaged in sexual acts,” the AP reports.
After canceling a press conference with CNN and a scheduled appearance on the Tom Joyner radio show this morning, Bishop Eddie Long finally reached out to supporters today… via Twitter.
Eddie Long's attorney went to the airwaves on Tom Joyner's radio show this morning to defend the pastor from three lawsuits filed against the popular preacher by three young men who said Long coerced them into having sex.
A third lawsuit was filed today against Eddie Long, head of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, accusing the leader of the megachurch of sexual coercion.
Bishop Eddie Long, spiritual leader of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church and its thousands of members, is in the midst of a gay-sex scandal involving two young men who have accused Long of coercion. Local and national media picked up the story late yesterday.
Today, another lawsuit was filed, details forthcoming.
Bishop Eddie Long, head of the megachurch New Birth Missionary Baptist Church who is being sued by two men for allegedly coercing them to have sex with him, is making local and national headlines. But for LGBT activists, the news may not come as too much of a surprise.
In 2005, black gay activists Keith Boykin and Jasmyne Cannick wrote a series of profiles of anti-gay preachers titled, “Outing Black Pastors.” One of those preachers was Long.
Two men have filed suits Tuesday in DeKalb County alleging Pastor Eddie Long coerced them into having sex with him, according to a report by CNN.
The men state in their lawsuits that Long, pastor of the anti-gay mega-church New Birth Missionary Baptist Church located in Lithonia, used his authority as pastor and bishop to force them into sex, the CNN report states.