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Birmingham Church: Sexual Misconduct Lawsuits "Will Not Effect" Relationship w/ Eddie Long

Disgraced anti-gay mega-church "Bishop" Eddie Long asked for "larger" donations last week to launch ministries in Birmingham, Alabama and Denver. The announcement was made only ten days after settling the four sexual misconduct lawsuits filed by young men against him and his church. 

The sexual misconduct settlements will not effect the Birmingham's church's decision to afiliate with New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, the Rev. Stephen A. Davis tells the Birmingham News.

The 2,300-member Refiner's House in Huffman announced that it will change its name and be affiliated with the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga. .... Rev. Stephen A. Davis, founding pastor, started The Refiner's House in a former auto parts store in Center Point in 2001. Davis said that he had been mentored since 2006 by Bishop Eddie Long, pastor of New Birth in Lithonia.

Long, the controversial TV evangelist, recently settled lawsuits against him by several young men in the church who accused him of sexual improprieties.Long's legal problems didn't affect the association between the two churches, Dailey said. "That's our bishop and we love him," Dailey said. "We thank God what transpired is over. We're moving ahead."

Long sure has been doing a lot of "mentoring" ....

The four young men—Maurice Robinson, Jamal Parris, Anthony Flagg and Spencer LeGrande—filed sexual coercion lawsuits against Long and New Birth last fall.  Long is accused of using church funds to give the four men cash, gifts and cars.The sexual relationships reportedly began when each of the plaintiffs were around 16 years old. 

Read the complaintsHERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

What's "over", pastor? The litigation and sexual coercion lawsuits that your "bishop" was forced to settle? Or the "bishop's" predatory habits around teenage boys?

Eddie Long Wants Larger Donations After "Audit" to Build New Churches

Ten days ago, the disgraced, anti-gay mega-church pastor Eddie Long settled the four sexual coercion lawsuits filed against him and his church. Long is accused of luring at least four young men into sexual relationships  

And today: The pastor announced that New Birth Missionary Baptist Church has been "audited" and asked for "larger" donations to build new churches, report WSB and the Atlanta Journal Constuitution.

The church is called New Birth Birmingham. New Birth also plans to launch New Birth Denver, another satellite church. Long also said the Lithonia megachurch recently received its certified audit back from 2010 and 2009. "All your money's being done right and being calcuated right," he said. Parishioners who were financially able were also asked to make larger donations ($500 to $1,000) as a seed for the ministry.

Today makes the second Sunday after the settlement was announced. Long has yet to make any church announcement. Long also did not explain why the "audit" was conducted.  

Long is accused of using church funds to give the four men cash, gifts and cars. The four young men—Maurice Robinson, Jamal Parris, Anthony Flagg and Spencer LeGrande—filed sexual coercion lawsuits against Long and New Birth last fall. The sexual relationships reportedly began when each of the plaintiffs were around 16 years old. Read the complaints HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

The sexual scandals and lawsuits at New Birth have reportedly lead to a "significant drop" in attendance and donations. And for the third consecutive year, New Birth did not have its once-popular Easter service at the Georgia Dome. Rev. Bernice King also announced her resignation as an elder last week.

The height of arrogance that a pastor would ask for more and "larger" donations after settling multiple lawsuits alleging pastoral misconduct? Nope. Just another day in the hypocritical Black mega-churches, where pastors are worshipped as messianic figures and the congregation prefers a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" attitude around sexuality.

R20's complete EDDIE LONG coverage.

WATCH: Alabama DJs Mock Obama's LGBT Pride Proclamation

Happy gay pride from your racist and homophobic shock jocks!

Pam Spaulding points us to this clip from Birmingham, Alabama radio dj's Rick Burgess and Bill "Bubba" Bussey, the hosts of WZZK and XM Radio's The Rick and Bubba Show. The good ole boys mocked President Obama's LGBT Pride Month Proclamation. "There's nothing about special about gay people, why the Pride?" asks Bubba, who adds that there are no "fornicator pride" or "adulterer pride" days.

Oh no, the mega-churches and the Republican Party recognize and justify those sins daily, "Bubba."

Make sure to visit "Rick and Bubba Must Go" on Facebook. Watch the "biblically justified" homophobic rant AFTER THE JUMP ...

Anti-Gay Artur Davis Loses Bid to Become Alabama's 1st Black Gov

Rep. Artur Davis has lost his bid to become the first black elected governor in Alabama. The anti-gay conservative Birmingham Democrat—who boasts an abysmal 45 percent Human Rights Campaign score—largely ignored black voters and catered toward Republicans. That strategy failed with Democratic primary voters—about half of whom are black—and Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks "stomped Davis" with more than 60 percent of the vote,  CNN reports.

Had the four-term congressman come out on top, he could have become Alabama's first black governor and only the third elected black governor in United States history. The historical implications of a Davis victory were not lost on the Deep South. A black man could have taken the oath of office near where Gov. George Wallace declared "Segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!" in his 1963 inaugural address and where Jefferson Davis took the oath of office as president of the Confederate States of America in 1861. Davis, much to the chagrin of black political leaders, had no interest in focusing on the symbolism.

But it wasn't just the clout of the black establishment that made some black voters question Davis. "Artur Davis did do something to make black people not want to vote for him, and that is his 'no' vote for health care reform. Even before the black political groups stepped in the picture and refused to endorse him, he had already established a negative relationship with some of the black voters," said Angela Lewis, an associate professor of black political behavior at the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

Davis was the only one in the 42 member Congressional Black Caucus to oppose the health care reform bill.  Davis' majority black congressional district in Alabama is one of the poorest in the country and boasts the state's highest HIV/AIDS rates.

Davis has been a reliable anti-gay vote. Davis was the only black congressman to oppose extending hate crime protections to LGBTs. Davis was the only black congressman to oppose the historic ENDA vote in 2007. (Clarke and Towns voted "no" because it did not include transgender protections.) Davis abstained from voting on last week's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal as an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act. 

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Artur Davis Only Black Congressman Against Health Care

Anti-Gay Artur Davis Only Black Congressmen to Oppose Health Care

The predictably anti-gay Rep. Artur Davis—the black conservative Democrat from Birmingham, Alabama who boasts an abysmal 45 percent Human Rights Campaign score—was elected on a campaign pledge to "improve health care" in his overwhelmingly black, low-income and un-insured west Alabama district. Davis aligned with Alabama's House delegation to vote unanimously against the health care legislation approved late Sunday.

Alabama's only black congressman was the only one in the 42 member Congressional Black Caucus to oppose the bill. Davis was the only black congressman to oppose the historic ENDA vote in 2007. (Clarke and Towns voted "no" because it did not include transgender protections.) Davis, who  voted against the House health care version last year, was the also the only black congressman to oppose extending hate crime protections to LGBTs. Of the 34 Democrats to vote "no" last night, his is the most Democratic-leaning district of any no vote, reports Salon, which crowned Davis "the most cowardly Democrat" in Congress. Very fitting indeed.

His 7th District gave Barack Obama nearly 73 percent of the vote in 2008. Davis, who ousted an incumbent Democrat (Earl Hilliard) in a primary in 2002, has spent the last few years as the least liberal member of the Congressional Black Caucus. But his departures from the party line have intensified this year as he runs for governor of Alabama -- a much tougher task than running in his safely Democratic district. Whether voting no will help him with his state’s electorate remains to be seen.

Davis is running against Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks, who is white, for the Democratic nomination. Davis' majority black congressional district in Alabama is one of the poorest in the country, boasts the state's highest HIV/AIDS rates and is the epicenter of the state's syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia epidemic, "among the highest in the country", reports WKRG.

Says Davis of his vote against expanding health care to his district's poor and low income residents: "I just don't see this as a racial vote or a racial issue."

Of course it isn't. Priorities, priorities ...

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Artur Davis was the Only Black Vote Against Health Care

Alabama COGIC Bishop Peter Wren Sr Accused of Sexual Misconduct

Yet another high-ranking official in the Church of God in Christ—the largest Pentecostal denomination in the United States and the second largest African-American denomination—is accused of sexual misconduct. Bishop Peter Wren Sr., who is the head of the Third Alabama Jurisdictional and pastors the East Birmingham COGIC, has been accused by at least two women in his jurisdiction of being a sexual predator.

The allegations surfaced on social networking sites. Wren, who is married with children, denies the accusations and claims the woman is trying to "slander" him:

"She befriended my family and eventually moved into our home. For a period of (2) two years she stayed with my family, providing her a roof over her head and food to eat; worked at my place of business, providing her with revenue to support herself. In just a little while she would show a forming motive, after consumptions of alcohol, she would make advances at me. After rebukes and repeat attempts, I put her out of my home. She became angry and left the church and now is seeking ways to destroy my character by spreading these horrible lies. Tiffany_____, it is my recommendation that you seek some type of Psychiatric help and if these lies continue it leaves me no choice but to take legal actions against you because of Slander and Deformation[sic] of Character.

But another woman also comes forward and says there are many other cases.

“I also come as a victim of Bishop Peter Wren Sr. You confide in him some of your intimate secrets seeking spiritual guidance and he then takes those same secrets and guide you into unwarranted sexual advances and also his bed. I was too young and naïve to see through the deceit because like most innocent souls, we seek love and acceptance no matter what form."

Officials at the Memphis-based COGIC, which claims to have a "zero-tolerance" policy on sexual abuse, have refused comment and will not say if there is an official investigation.

This becomes only the latest charge of sexual misconduct within the rabidly anti-gay Church of God in Christ, which is well known for attracting so many closeted black gay men and rivals the Catholic Church for the many sexual predators within its leadership. COGIC is embroiled in numerous lawsuits and criminal investigations around clergy sexual abuse—there is a micro-site on the Church website—and has been accused of covering up sexual misconduct cases for decades. On January 30, a former COGIC pastor was sentenced to 20 years on charges he raped a teenage girl some 25 years ago. One church reportedly has four convicted pedophiles on its payroll.

BTW: The Church of God in Christ was the denomination that hosted Donnie McClurkin for his now-infamous rant against gay youth when he compared gay men to "vampires". Glass houses much?

In 2008, Ronald Paige, an Arkansas COCIC pastor, was killed by a young man who accused him of rape and molestation. Numerous male victims and their families have stepped forward with similar claims. One woman says she spoke to COGIC bishops about Paige molesting her son in the early 1980s and nothing was done. Watch a news report AFTER THE JUMP ...

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Anti-Gay Artur Davis was the Only Black Vote Against Health Care

In April, the predictably anti-gay Artur Davis—the black conservative Democrat from Birmingham, Alabama who boasts an abysmal 45 percent Human Rights Campaign score—was the only member of the Congressional Black Caucus to vote against the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Davis later voted for the 2010 Department of Defense Authorization Bill conference report that included the Matthew Shepard Act.

Over the weekend, Davis again made distinction: The congressman was one of 39 Democrats and apparently the only member of the CBC to vote against the health care bill approved Saturday night. The Alabama and Mississippi congressional delegations presented an almost unified wall of opposition. All Democratic and Republican members, except for Mississippi's Bennie Thompson, who is black, voted against the bill.

President Obama won 74 percent of the vote in Davis' 7th district. Despite the overwhelming support for the President, Davis is running for governor of the conservative-leaning state next November. Davis, of course, is looking to safeguard against attacks from Republicans. The irony is that blacks and rural voters in Alabama have lower access to health care and are paying higher premiums than the average. But that's politics.

UPDATE: Kayman has more at Left in Alabama.

Anti-Gay Birmingham Mayor Convicted in Corruption Trial

Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford was found guilty and convicted on all 60 counts in his federal corruption trial in Tuscaloosa, reports the Birmingham News.

Among the charges were bribery, money laundering, conspiracy, mail and wire fraud and filing a false tax return. The office of the Mayor of Birmingham was immediately vacated and City Council President Carole Smitherman became Acting Mayor until a special election is held in early-mid December.

The anti-gay social conservative former mayor of Birmingham refused to issue a parade permit for Alabama gay Pride. The parade and celebration eventually happened over his objections and Central Alabama Pride sued the city and Langford.  Here's some delicious irony: A children's charity founded by the former mayor is also being investigated by the feds for lavishly spending money and writing checks to a former gay porn super-star Ryan Idol.

Langford now faces a maximum of 804 years in prison. And it couldn't happen to a better person.

Thanks PRAYZE HYMN!

Jury Deliberates Case of Ex-Judge Accused of Paddling, Sex Abuse

The jury is now deliberating the case of former Alabama Circuit Court Judge Herman Thomas, who is accused of exchanging leniency for sexual acts such as paddling, masturbation and oral sex. The jury is considering more than 20 charges against the former Mobile County circuit judge, including sodomy, assault and sex abuse. 

Last week, 11 alleged victims told of being spanked with belts, a Kappa Alpha Psi paddle, and of being spanked by Thomas at a fraternity house. Prosecutors describe Thomas as a predator who had sex with inmates in return for leniency. Thomas denies being gay or bisexual as well as the accounts of numerous current and former inmates. The defense did not attempt to explain how the semen of two alleged victims were found in his office.

Thomas Trial: Inmates Testify Ex-Judge Spanked, Abused Them

The prosecution rests in the trial of former Alabama Circuit Court Judge Herman Thomas, who is accused of exchanging leniency for sexual acts such as paddling, masturbation and oral sex. The former Mobile County judge at one point faced more than 100 criminal counts, including kidnapping, sexual abuse, extortion and sodomy. Prosecutors dismissed some cases and others were thrown out by a judge because the statute of limitations expired.

There are now 11 alleged victims and 52 counts, WKRG-TV reports. In the past week, eight victims told of being spanked with belts, a Kappa Alpha Psi paddle, and of being spanked by Thomas at a fraternity house. One victim previously told Mobile police that Thomas forced him to masturbate but refused to say this on the witness stand, reports the Mobile Press-Register.

The man is one of two alleged victims whose semen was found by investigators in that office on the eighth floor, according to earlier testimony. Last week, the other alleged victim testified that Thomas asked him to masturbate inside the office. On Monday, Special Judge Claud Neilson sent the jury out of the courtroom after prosecutors tried to introduce into evidence a transcript of an FBI interview with the 26-year-old man earlier this year. The transcript stated that the man had previously told Mobile police that Thomas forced him to masturbate, prosecutors said. Neilson ruled that the transcript could not be heard or seen by the jury.

The man testified Monday that Thomas beat him on his bare buttocks inside a jury room, in the small office and at a fraternity house in Mobile after meeting the judge in 2000. During one of the beatings, the man said, he turned around and saw Thomas with an erection in his pants. "I don't like being here," the man said from the witness stand. "I'm just here to testify the truth."

The trial also revealed one of the alleged victims was the son of an influential black state senator, Vivian Davis Figures, who allegedly asked the judge to intervene in her son's drug case.

The defense began its case yesterday. One of the character witnesses admits she gave Thomas permission to paddle her nephew, who was in and out of jail on drug charges, WKRG reports. The mother of another witness says she gave Thomas permission to paddle her grown son, adds Black Independent, an Alabama-based blog following the case. Defense attorney Bob Clark said Wednesday morning he planned to rest their case this afternoon.

Herman Thomas was once the Democratic Party's choice to be the first black federal judge in south Alabama. The now-disgraced judge was considered "tough" on crime and is married with two teen-aged daughters. He denies being gay or bisexual.

Thanks LANCE and KAYMAN!

The Background:
Prosecutors Describe Former Judge as Sex Predator
Prosecutors Want Sexual Fetish Testimony in Trial 
Ex-Judge Accused of Trading Sex for Leniency