Furious crowd stands up to hateful street preacher who called LGBT+ people an ‘abomination’
A preacher, one of several in the local area, was arrested after a crowd of shoppers stood up to him. (Screen captures via LeedsLive)
An anti-LGBT+ street preacher who called LGBT+ people an “abomination” has been arrested after passersby stood up to him.
The assembled crowd that confronted the man erupted into cheers as he was arrested by police in Briggate, Leeds, on Tuesday (8 June), according to LeedsLive.
In video footage taken before his arrest, the preacher can be seen shouting at passers-by who couldn’t care less: “Does God accept the LGBT community?
“Listen, homosexuality is an abomination in the eyes of God.
“It says in the bible if a man lies with a man the way a man would lie with a woman it is an abomination.
“The bible says that lesbianism is [an] unnatural and vile passion. The bible says that homosexuals shall not inherit the kingdom of God, so God does not accept homosexuality.”
Among the crowd was Jordan Denny, who filmed the incident. He told the outlet that the preacher is one of several who regularly sermonises in the area and claimed he had harassed his trans friend, “calling her a man”.
Denny explained how, initially, just six civilians began to upbraid the anti-LGBT+ preacher for spouting hatred. “But that turned to 20 and 30 really fast,” he said.
“Once we started chanting more came around and we had about 70 people supporting us against discrimination.”
Denny called the police to report what he believes to be a “hate crime” after the preacher shrugged off the crowd, reportedly claiming it was “freedom of speech” to call queer folk an “abomination”.
“I’m so happy that as a city we became closer and came together to stop this awful speech!” Denny said.
“He was making us all feel very little and overpowered us with his speaker. We were so glad to see them all off in the police vans!”
West Yorkshire Police confirmed to LeedsLive that the man is at the time of writing in custody.
A spokesperson said: “Police in Leeds received several reports of an ongoing hate incident on Briggate in Leeds during Tuesday afternoon.
“Officers attended and located and arrested a male on suspicion of public order offences. He remains in custody and enquiries are ongoing.
“All reports of hate offending are taken very seriously by West Yorkshire Police and are fully investigated.”
