Claim: “New Georgia United Methodist Church members protest against same-sex marriage in the church.”
Source: Online Parrot
Verdict: Misleading, no same-sex wedding or marriage happens at the United Methodist Church in New Georgia.
Full Text: On Sunday, October 13, 2024, news broke about an alleged gay wedding officiated at one of the United Methodist Churches (UMC) in the New Georgia Community in Liberia.
The online parrot, a local blog, claimed that the wedding was taking place between two men at the church edifice in New Georgia, which led to some church members’ protests.
A similar post was made by Stephen Johnson, a Liberian journalist. The journalist posted on his official Facebook page that the United Methodist Church Branch in New Georgia was hosting a marriage ceremony for two men.
As of the time we checked, the online parrot post had 440k reactions, 536 comments, and 31 shares. He then deleted the post.
Same-sex marriage refers to the legal union between two individuals of the same gender.
Liberia’s laws discriminate against LGBTIQ individuals, including the criminalization of voluntary sodomy under Subchapter D of Chapter 14 of the Penal Law of Liberia.
Religious beliefs and cultural practices also impede their access to full human rights.
Section 14.74. Voluntary sodomy. A person who engages in deviant sexual intercourse under circumstances not stated in Section 14.72 [relating to aggravated involuntary sodomy] or 14.73 [relating to involuntary sodomy] has committed a first-degree misdemeanor.
Section 14.79. Definitions relating to sections on sexual crimes against the person. In this subchapter: (a) “Sexual intercourse” occurs upon penetration, however slight; ejaculation is not required; (b) “deviate sexual intercourse” means sexual contact between human beings who are not husband and wife or living together as man and wife though not legally married, consisting of contact between the penis and the anus, the mouth and the penis, or the mouth and vulva; (c) “sexual contact” means any touching of the sexual or other intimate parts of a person to arouse or gratifying sexual desire.
Chapter 50 of the Penal Code of Liberia specifies the penalties for violating the preceding laws
Verification: To verify this claim, we contacted Samuel Quire, Bishop of the United Methodist Church ( UMC) in Liberia, via WhatsApp but he did not respond.
Screenshot of the message we sent to Bishop Quire
We also found a one-minute video from Nyantee Togba, OK FM’s reporter, in which Quire was seen at the headquarters of the Liberia National Police on Monday, October 14, 2024.
In the video, Quire can be heard saying, “There is no way that the United Methodist Church will bring gay business to Liberia.”
He also assured the public that the United Methodist Church is not into gay business and will not accept anything of such.
He added that the General Conference gave the United Methodist Church in Liberia eighteen months for the ratification of the regionalization.
Quire also confirmed that there was no wedding ceremony in the New Georgia United Methodist Church as claimed by the online Parrot and Journalist Stephen Johnson.
We also found a video of the Quire addressing the press on the situation.
In a live Facebook broadcast obtained from ELBC 99.9 FM page, the director of Police, Gregory Coleman said the Methodist Bishop was invited by the police after a protest which took place at the 72nd United Methodist Church and New Georgia United Methodist Church in the New Georgia Community.
Coleman after meeting with Quire said it was established that the United Methodist Church in Liberia has not and will not sign any arrangements to bring about Gay marriage in Liberia.
The Police IG also said that there is no gay bishop in any of the Methodist churches in Liberia, adding that even though the General Conference in the United States of America lifted the ban on same-sex marriage, it is important to note that the UMC in Liberia has not signed up to any gay marriage document.
Moreover, TSM spoke with Thomas Debah, an eyewitness and a businessman who sells scratch cards and exchanges money in the area.
Debah said he saw people believed to be members of the ” Seventy Second United Methodist Church” protesting on Sunday before the church building in Paynesville but did not witness “a gay marriage ceremony” taking place as reported on social media.
“I hear they were sending people to remove the pastor because he was against gay marriage and they wanted someone who would agree with the bishop,” Debah said.
Another eyewitness, Fatu Gaye, who is a resident of the 72nd Community, told TSM that she was present when the protest started.
Fatu told TSM that she did not see any wedding ceremony at the church between a “man and a man.”
” I did not see any marriage program on Sunday, especially between man and man. Fatu narrated.
Conclusion: According to TSM research, the United Methodist Church in New Georgia did not hold a gay wedding, as claimed by online parrot and journalist Stephen Johnson. However, protests broke out on Sunday at the Church in Monrovia over the suspension of the Rev. Leo Mason, the church’s senior pastor and an outspoken critic of same-sex marriage.
