Vice President Mike Pence told churchgoers on Sunday to honor Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy “in these divided times,” before the church’s bishop took the pulpit and decried homosexuality as caused by “the devil.”
Speaking at the Holy City Church of God in Christ in Memphis, Tennessee, over the holiday weekend, Pence preached on the importance of remembering and honoring King, who he said moved the country to “live up to our highest ideals by speaking to our common foundation of faith.”
The VP also promised congregants that he would “stand strong for the values that you hold dear.”
Shortly after his speech, Bishop Jerry Wayne Taylor began his own sermon — decrying homosexuality and transgender people as Pence looked on.
“The foundation is important. We have to encourage young men and women to get married,” Taylor said. “It’s a demonic spirit that causes a woman to want to lie with another woman. It’s a demonic spirit that causes a man to be attracted to another man.”
Taylor then denounced those who he said were “trying to destroy” the foundation of marriage and “cut off the reproduction process.”
“Two men can’t have a baby. Two women can’t have a baby … We allow abortion to go, we’re cutting off presidents and queens.”
The bishop also referred to homosexuality as “unnatural” and claimed that same-sex attraction is only found in humans, which he said was evidenced by an animal documentary he had watched.
“You never see two male animals coming together. We’ve got to expose what the devil is doing.”
Taylor’s sermon also included a commentary on transgender people.
“He made a man to be a man. If you know what God made you, when you go to the bathroom, just check your plumbing,” he said.
The White House posted a livestream of the event, which is still online.