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Anti-gay Baptist bishop sued for sexual acts by male parishioner

Minister’s attorney goes on radio show to defend client

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An attorney for a Baptist bishop whose ministry is in Lithonia, Ga., and who’s embroiled in a gay sex lawsuit defended his client on a radio show this week.

Bishop Eddie Long’s attorney went to the airwaves on Tom Joyner’s radio show this week to defend the pastor from three lawsuits filed against the popular preacher by three young men who said Long coerced them into having sex.

Craig Gillen, Long’s attorney, told Roland Martin of the Tom Joyner Show at 104.1 Kiss FM it was his decision not to have Long be interviewed on the show and first read a statement from Long.

“I apologize … this was my call [to not have Long interview on the show],” Gillen said during the interview that lasted just under 15 minutes. “He wanted to be here.”

The statement Gillen said was from Long said, in part, “I have been through storms and my faith has always sustained me … Let me be clear, these charges are false.”

Gillen also said Long stated he would respond to the allegations to his congregation of some 25,000 members at the 11 a.m. service on Sunday at New Birth located in Lithonia.

Gillen said “these false allegations” are an attack on Bishop Long personally, on New Birth and its 25,000 members as well as an attack on the church’s mentoring program “that has helped thousands of young men.”

Martin posed the question why Long himself has not spoken out yet himself some 48 hours after the first lawsuit was filed.

“You have a large congregation, a national, international ministry … but if someone leveled these kinds of charges, that I slept in a bed, that I actually performed sexual acts, that I groped individuals, things along those lines, I would likely be screaming to high heaven there’s no way in the world I did any of these things,” Martin said. “Don’t you think that still poses a problem not hearing directly from the bishop addressing these allegations?”

Gillen said he didn’t believe it was a problem and if any blame was to be made about Long not speaking directly about the situation to blame him as his attorney.

“It is important for the bishop to make sure as many folks as possible in that church understand and know he is going to be talking with them directly Sunday morning. These folks along with the bishop are under attack,” Gillen said.

No lawyer likes to have his client in a situation that a lawyer can’t control, Gillen added.

A press conference with Long that was scheduled for today was also canceled. Gillen said on the radio show there was a “miscommunication” and there would be no press conference.

Gillen also pointed out that two of the accusers were arrested for robbing the church.

The full statement from Long as read by Gillen on the radio today:

“I have been through storms and my faith has always sustained  me. I am anxious to respond directly to these false allegations and I will do so. However, my lawyers counsel patience at this time.

“Let me be clear — the charges against me and New Birth are false. I have devoted my life to helping others and these false allegations hurt me deeply. But my faith is strong and the truth will emerge.

“All I ask is for your patience as we continue to categorically deny each and every one of these ugly charges. Finally, as I have done for thousands of others over my decades of preaching
I ask for your prayers for me, my family and our church.”

Charges against Long

Jamal Parris, 23, is named as the plaintiff in the third lawsuit. He lives in Colorado Springs, Colo. He and his mother joined Long’s New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in 2001 when Parris was 14.

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, Parris alleges Long encouraged him to call him “Daddy.” During 2004-2005, Parris spent time alone with Long in a guesthouse of the megachurch on Snapfinger Road.

“Initially, Defendant Long engaged in sexual touching during their encounters and then escalated the activity to oral sodomy and other acts of sexual gratification,” the lawsuit states. “Defendant Long would discuss the Holy Scripture to justify the sexual activity.”

The third lawsuit is similar to two lawsuits filed on Tuesday by former members.

Long has a long history of being anti-gay. In December 2004, he led a march of some 10,000 congregants through the streets of Atlanta from the Martin Luther King Jr. Center to Turner Field to protest same-sex marriage. Several local LGBT activists held a counter-protest to the march.

In 2005, black gay activists Keith Boykin and Jasmyne Cannick profiled Long as one of several anti-gay black pastors as part of an “Outing Black Pastors” online series on their websites.

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U.S. Supreme Court

Supreme Court to consider bans on trans athletes in school sports

27 states have passed laws limiting participation in athletics programs

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U.S. Supreme Court (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear two cases involving transgender youth challenging bans prohibiting them from participating in school sports.

In Little v. Hecox, plaintiffs represented by the ACLU, Legal Voice, and the law firm Cooley are challenging Idaho’s 2020 ban, which requires sex testing to adjudicate questions of an athlete’s eligibility.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals described the process in a 2023 decision halting the policy’s enforcement pending an outcome in the litigation. The “sex dispute verification process, whereby any individual can ‘dispute’ the sex of any female student athlete in the state of Idaho,” the court wrote, would “require her to undergo intrusive medical procedures to verify her sex, including gynecological exams.”

In West Virginia v. B.P.J., Lambda Legal, the ACLU, the ACLU of West Virginia, and Cooley are representing a trans middle school student challenging the Mountain State’s 2021 ban on trans athletes.

The plaintiff was participating in cross country when the law was passed, taking puberty blockers that would have significantly reduced the chances that she could have a physiological advantage over cisgender peers.

“Like any other educational program, school athletic programs should be accessible for everyone regardless of their sex or transgender status,” said Joshua Block, senior counsel for the ACLU’s LGBTQ and HIV Project. “Trans kids play sports for the same reasons their peers do — to learn perseverance, dedication, teamwork, and to simply have fun with their friends,” Block said.

He added, “Categorically excluding kids from school sports just because they are transgender will only make our schools less safe and more hurtful places for all youth. We believe the lower courts were right to block these discriminatory laws, and we will continue to defend the freedom of all kids to play.”

“Our client just wants to play sports with her friends and peers,” said Lambda Legal Senior Counsel Tara Borelli. “Everyone understands the value of participating in team athletics, for fitness, leadership, socialization, and myriad other benefits.”

Borelli continued, “The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit last April issued a thoughtful and thorough ruling allowing B.P.J. to continue participating in track events. That well-reasoned decision should stand the test of time, and we stand ready to defend it.”

Shortly after taking control of both legislative chambers, Republican members of Congress tried — unsuccessfully — to pass a national ban like those now enforced in 27 states since 2020.

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Federal Government

UPenn erases Lia Thomas’s records as part of settlement with White House

University agreed to ban trans women from women’s sports teams

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U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon (Screen capture: C-SPAN)

In a settlement with the Trump-Vance administration announced on Tuesday, the University of Pennsylvania will ban transgender athletes from competing and erase swimming records set by transgender former student Lia Thomas.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights found the university in violation of Title IX, the federal rights law barring sex based discrimination in educational institutions, by “permitting males to compete in women’s intercollegiate athletics and to occupy women-only intimate facilities.”

The statement issued by University of Pennsylvania President J. Larry Jameson highlighted how the law’s interpretation was changed substantially under President Donald Trump’s second term.

“The Department of Education OCR investigated the participation of one transgender athlete on the women’s swimming team three years ago, during the 2021-2022 swim season,” he wrote. “At that time, Penn was in compliance with NCAA eligibility rules and Title IX as then interpreted.”

Jameson continued, “Penn has always followed — and continues to follow — Title IX and the applicable policy of the NCAA regarding transgender athletes. NCAA eligibility rules changed in February 2025 with Executive Orders 14168 and 14201 and Penn will continue to adhere to these new rules.”

Writing that “we acknowledge that some student-athletes were disadvantaged by these rules” in place while Thomas was allowed to compete, the university president added, “We recognize this and will apologize to those who experienced a competitive disadvantage or experienced anxiety because of the policies in effect at the time.”

“Today’s resolution agreement with UPenn is yet another example of the Trump effect in action,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. “Thanks to the leadership of President Trump, UPenn has agreed both to apologize for its past Title IX violations and to ensure that women’s sports are protected at the university for future generations of female athletes.”

Under former President Joe Biden, the department’s Office of Civil Rights sought to protect against anti-LGBTQ discrimination in education, bringing investigations and enforcement actions in cases where school officials might, for example, require trans students to use restrooms and facilities consistent with their birth sex or fail to respond to peer harassment over their gender identity.

Much of the legal reasoning behind the Biden-Harris administration’s positions extended from the 2020 U.S. Supreme Court case Bostock v. Clayton County, which found that sex-based discrimination includes that which is based on sexual orientation or gender identity under Title VII rules covering employment practices.

The Trump-Vance administration last week put the state of California on notice that its trans athlete policies were, or once were, in violation of Title IX, which comes amid the ongoing battle with Maine over the same issue.

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New York

Two teens shot steps from Stonewall Inn after NYC Pride parade

One of the victims remains in critical condition

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The Stonewall National Memorial in New York on June 19, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

On Sunday night, following the annual NYC Pride March, two girls were shot in Sheridan Square, feet away from the historic Stonewall Inn.

According to an NYPD report, the two girls, aged 16 and 17, were shot around 10:15 p.m. as Pride festivities began to wind down. The 16-year-old was struck in the head and, according to police sources, is said to be in critical condition, while the 17-year-old was said to be in stable condition.

The Washington Blade confirmed with the NYPD the details from the police reports and learned no arrests had been made as of noon Monday.

The shooting took place in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, mere feet away from the most famous gay bar in the city — if not the world — the Stonewall Inn. Earlier that day, hundreds of thousands of people marched down Christopher Street to celebrate 55 years of LGBTQ people standing up for their rights.

In June 1969, after police raided the Stonewall Inn, members of the LGBTQ community pushed back, sparking what became known as the Stonewall riots. Over the course of two days, LGBTQ New Yorkers protested the discriminatory policing of queer spaces across the city and mobilized to speak out — and throw bottles if need be — at officers attempting to suppress their existence.

The following year, LGBTQ people returned to the Stonewall Inn and marched through the same streets where queer New Yorkers had been arrested, marking the first “Gay Pride March” in history and declaring that LGBTQ people were not going anywhere.

New York State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, whose district includes Greenwich Village, took to social media to comment on the shooting.

“After decades of peaceful Pride celebrations — this year gun fire and two people shot near the Stonewall Inn is a reminder that gun violence is everywhere,” the lesbian lawmaker said on X. “Guns are a problem despite the NRA BS.”

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