Black Pastor Says Obama 'Deceived America' on Gay Marriage
The Rev. Bill Owens, the president of the Coalition of African American Pastors, spoke at the March for Marriage rally in Washington, D.C., blasting President Barack Obama for "deceiving America" by carefully timing his advocacy for same-sex marriage.
"When President Obama was running for president, I had some friends in the gay community who informed me that he was going to say that he was for marriage between a man and a woman in his first term to get elected but he would take the issue up in his second term, and that's what he did," Owens said at the rally, according to CNS News.
"He deceived America," the pastor said in his speech Saturday. "And you must fear no man. I fear no man. I got a lot of criticism, a lot of hate mail for opposing Obama."
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Owens said while Obama is a black American, "his father is an African, and I think he thinks he can be a king like they have in Africa, but America don't have kings."
America has "a president, and I stand against Mr. Obama very much today," he added. "He's on the wrong track, and he has hurt America and the American family."
The pastor also talked about Obama's action on the transgender bathroom issue.
The U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education recently released a "guidance" saying that all federally funded schools must allow students to use restrooms, locker rooms and other facilities and activities according to their self-proclaimed gender identity.
Whether people should use bathrooms corresponding to their biological sex or gender identity became a major debate in the country ever since North Carolina's House Bill 2 was targeted for criticism by LGBT groups and some celebrities.
"Only a sick man – I mean sick in his mind – would promote a program that men can go in women's restrooms. Only a sick man would promote that," Owens said.
An online petition started by Family Research Council against the Obama administration's "overreach in bullying parents and local school districts" to allow students to use restrooms and other facilities as per their gender identity gained about 100,000 signatures.
"I'm going to challenge black America to stand up. We let Obama and the gay community take what black people marched and worked for, died for, beaten for, and called this civil rights," Owens said. "It's not a civil right. It's a civil wrong, and I call all men of all colors to protect your wife, protect your mother, protect your daughter."
