Priests could be arrested for promoting traditional marriage, says CPAC speaker

Mike Woods, 28, and Brandon Parsons, 30, on the Pennsylvania State Capital steps following a rally with gay rights supporters, May 20, 2014.(Photo: REUTERS)

Conservative writer and activist L. Brent Bozell III predicted last weekend that soon it will be a crime to speak in favour of "traditional marriage."

Bozell said the change could come as soon as three years from now while speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland.

The Media Research Center founder and president insisted that the "radical left" is attempting to "destroy the last vestiges of freedom in America," and condemned their alleged belief that "there's only one morally acceptable position on gay rights."

"I think it's very dangerous," Bozell said. "I'm not going to be at all surprised to see an effort made within three years, an effort made somewhere against a priest or a pastor for talking about traditional marriage and for calling homosexuality a sin. 

"I will not be at all surprised if there are criminal charges brought against one of them."

Asked to expound on his statements in an interview with SiriusXM Progress, Bozell said that according to the "radical left," "there are the oppressors and the victims, and the oppressors are Christians, and the victims are the ones they are oppressing for not abiding to the dictates of the state."

He criticised the recent lawsuits against Christian bakers and florists who refused service to the LGBT community, saying that the government "should have no say" in those situations. 

Although no US clergymen have faced charges regarding their opinion on same-sex relations, Houston Mayor Mayor Annise Parker attempted to subpoena the sermons and other documents of five pastors after they opposed an LGBT ordinance.  

The Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) was signed into law by Parker in May, and extended equal rights protections to gay and transgender persons. After a coalition of 400 local churches opposed the ordinance, five of the pastors were targeted by the mayor's office.

Parker, the city's first openly gay mayor, first removed sermons from the demand, then withdrew the subpoenas altogether.