Vandals deface LGBT church in Augusta, Georgia

Vandals spray-painted an LGBT church in downtown Augusta with Bible passages and suggestions that LGBT people burn.

The incident occurred on July 21, as first reported by the Augusta Chronicle.

“Burn Leviticus 18:22 Lies” was spray-painted across the front doors of Metropolitan Community Church of Our Redeemer, while another passage, Leviticus 18:20, was spray-painted on the front steps with the words “You’ll Burn.”

The church’s pastor, Rick Sosbe, was part of the first gay couple to receive a marriage license in Richmond County following the June 26 U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down same-sex marriage bans nationwide.

The incident occurred roughly three weeks after a rainbow flag was stolen from the front of the church.

“I was angry,” Sosbe told the Augusta Chronicle. “I was very sad and I thought, ‘Just why?’ To me, it seems so interesting that they’re saying on there that you’ll burn – in other words saying ‘You’ll burn in hell,’ I’m sure – and quoting scripture. Is that what Christianity – right-wing, fundamentalist Christianity – has come to?”

Sosbe and his partner, Michael Rehn, married on June 30. He said this was the first time an anti-LGBT incident has happened at the church and that he plans on discussing the installation of security cameras when the church’s board next meets.