D.C. minister calls gay men

‘faggots’ in sermonGay)

Activists, mayoral candidates signal outrage

By LOU CHIBBARO JR
Thursday, May 11, 2006

Two African-American gay groups are calling on D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams to oust from his Interfaith Council a city minister who used the term "faggot" and "sissy" to describe gay men in an April 9 sermon.

"It takes a real man to confess Jesus as Lord and savior," Bishop Alfred A. Owens Jr., pastor of Greater Mount Calvary Church in Northeast D.C., told his congregation in his Good Friday sermon.

"I’m not talking about no faggot or no sissy," he said. "Wait a minute! Let the real men come on down here and take a bow … all the real men. I’m talking about the straight men."

The Washington City Paper posted an audio recording of Owens’ sermon on its website last week.

The D.C. Coalition, which represents African-American gays in the D.C. area, and the National Black Justice Coalition, which advocates on behalf of African-American gays nationally, issued statements this week calling on...read it at Washington Blade