HATRED IS PERVERTED

Mandarin resident Cate Dobbins is hoping to change the heart of Rev. Gene Youngblood of First Conservative Baptist Church. She talked as though she believed that if she could convince Rev. Youngblood that the core message of Christianity — that of Jesus Christ — is tolerance and love, he’d stop posting anti-gay, homophobic messages on the church marquee. But she’s also kind of baiting him, titling a protest at the church last Sunday as the “First Conservative Baptist Church Protest/kiss-in disco party.”

Dobbins objects to the messages that Rev. Youngblood posts on his church marquee. After seeing one that read, “Homosexuals Must Repent or Go To Hell,” she began a campaign to convince the church to stop posting anti-gay statements.

But neither a phone call to the church nor a petition on change.org titled, “Take Down Your Homophobic and Bigoted Sign” (which, by June 15, had garnered 877 signatures) convinced Rev. Youngblood to stop. When Dobbins visited the church on May 11, she was told to leave the property. Since then, she’s protested in front of the church on Sundays with one or two other people. For the disco protest, there was no disco in evidence: just six people in casual attire holding signs promoting tolerance or ones that said “Hatred is Perverted.” Dobbins waved a large rainbow flag.

“I’m hoping it will grow and he’ll see us and maybe come to his senses. Putting up a marquee like that is not what Jesus would do,” she says. “This is not about me being opposed to their First Amendment rights. It is about a group of self-purported Christians behaving in the most un-Christian manner imaginable.”

Despite the protests, Rev. Youngblood’s marquee messages have continued, changing weekly to a new iteration on the same theme: “Homosexuality Is Not From God;” “Genesis: 19 — God’s Judgment Against Homosexuals. The story of Sodom and Gomorrah,” “Pray the Supreme Court Says No On Gay Marriage,” “All Christians Boycott Pro-Gay Businesses – Stand for God,” “Christians Don’t Be Silent — Speak Up. Stand Up” and “Keep Marriage Pure, Not Perverted.”

Last week, sisters Toby Getman and Elizabeth Zaner noticed the marquee while on their daily walks through their Mandarin neighborhood and were horrified. The sisters and Elizabeth’s son Brad joined the protest this week. Getman’s and Zaner’s grandparents are Holocaust survivors, so they said the intolerance and prejudice of Rev. Youngblood’s message deeply bothers them.

In the aftermath of the massacre of nine people in a Bible study group at the historic black AME church in Charleston on June 17, the sisters said they felt like the need to do things to not only keep bodies healthy, but to promote love and tolerance.

“It made us so sad,” said Getman of the sign. “It is just seriously horrible to have hate and God in the same sentence.”

“We know what hate does,” said Zaner.

In a three-page statement, Rev. Youngblood wrote that for the past 30 years, he’s used the marquee to educate, inspire and caution. He wrote he hoped “one practicing homosexual might read the sign and repent before it is too late and they are cast into hell.”

Rev. Youngblood spoke briefly to Folio Weekly last week.

Asked what he thinks about Dobbins’ statement that his message is not Christ-like, he responded:

“I understand,” he said. “Let me simply say this and say this simply. … And this is not for interview. … 

“If you are tape recording, I will sue your pants off.”

I told Rev. Youngblood I wasn’t taping, but I was typing.

“Well, then, I’ll cease to say anything, and thanks for calling,” he said, before he disconnected the call.