New York City Mayor Eric Adams fired Staten Island Pastor Rev. Kathlyn Barrett-Layne on the day of her appointment as one of the city’s panelists for an educational policy due to her stance on sexuality.
According to Metro Weekly, Adams' office explained Barrett-Layne's appointment as a seasoned minister who "spends her time inspiring people with her speaking and teaching in Bible studies." However, after less than six hours, an article regarded her past written works as homophobic. Afterward, Adams' spokeswoman Amaris Cockfield said that Barrett-Layne would not be pushing through with the administration.
"We were unaware of these writings and we've asked her to resign," Cockfield said.
The retired educator who served city schools as a teacher, assistant principal, and field supervisor for 30 years, said she was "disappointed" with the mayor's decision "to dismiss her" and to liken her "troubles to what school children were facing", The Right Scoop Reported.
"I feel bullied. I believe that the city is being bullied," Ms. Barrett-Layne said in an interview. "I feel as though my character, my name, my church has been defamed with lies and that everything was taken out of context."
In an article in Charisma News, 'Line of Fire' podcast host Dr. Michael Brown expressed support for Barrett-Layne citing her written works were misinterpreted by the media.
Brown laid out points against Pastor's critiques. News reports highlighted that "she equated homosexuality with pedophilia." In her book, "Challenging Your Disappointments as Appointments with Destiny," she wrote, "Christian leaders struggle with the same temptations of drugs, alcohol, homosexuality, fornication, adultery, pornography, pedophilia, stealing, lying, envy, covetousness, and every other sin that the congregation struggle with."
According to the host, she was not equating other sins to homosexuality but rather simply stating that "homosexual practice was a sin" which she just based on Christian teachings.
News reports also cited her words in the same book, "They live in the grip of fornicating homosexual lifestyles with the risk of being infected with the AIDS virus and other sexually transmitted diseases." According to the author, this is just one of the "inconvenient truths."
She was also criticized and tagged as a "Hate Pastor" for recounting an experience with her husband, praying over the sexuality of their confused three-year-old daughter to God. She wrote in her book, "We prayed against every spirit that was not of God, including the spirit of homosexuality...at the end of that prayer, my daughter asked me if she was a girl. When I told her yes, she happily began to sing and rejoice about being mommy and daddy's little girl. To tell you this was one of the most frightening experiences I had with my little girl is an understatement."
As for the author, "These parents did what many other Christian parents would do if their child, barely older than a toddler, suddenly questioned her sex."
According to News Daily, longtime LGBTQ rights activist Allen Roskoff said he sent a text message to the mayor, expressing his displeasure with the appointment of Barrett-Layne. Afterward, he was pleased with the decision of the mayor yet called it "only a partial victory."
"Her replacement needs to be someone from the LGBTQ community," Roskoff said. "We're only halfway there."
