Kentucky prison bans pastor over biblical stance on sexuality

The Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) revoked the volunteer credentials of a pastor who had a long history of ministering to detained youth because he refused to sign a new policy that forbade him from discussing sexual issues with inmates, including referring to homosexuality as “sinful.”

Pastor David Wells of Pleasant View Baptist Church in McQuady, a small town about 75 miles southwest of Louisville, regularly drives an hour south to visit and encourage youth residing at the Warren County Regional Juvenile Detention Center. Located in Bowling Green, the prison is a maximum security facility where correctional officers are “armed with mace and trained to use physical force to protect themselves and other inmates from violence,” according to Jail Exchange, a website listing all the country’s prisons.

Many children in the DJJ system have experienced sexual abuse, which can lead to confusion about their sexuality and feelings of shame and guilt. It also turns some into perpetrators themselves. Inmates can ask to meet with various volunteers to discuss their problems, and on numerous occasions the children have brought up sexual behavior while meeting with Wells, Richard Mast, a Liberty Counsel attorney representing Wells, wrote in a letter to the DJJ.

During such discussions, Wells referenced what the Bible had to say about sexuality and assured the children Christ offers hope and healing through the gospel. Wells understands the children’s struggle to find peace because a man sexually abused him for several years when he was a young child, according to Mast’s letter. His personal success of overcoming abuse lets him offer both compassion and hope to children who seek his counsel.

But in April 2014, the DJJ issued a new policy on sexual orientation and gender identity, which included a demand that all staff, volunteers, and contractors “not imply or tell LGBTQI juveniles that they are abnormal, deviant, sinful, or that they can or should change their sexual orientation or gender identity.” The acronym LGBTQI stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, and intersexual.

Although no one has ever complained to the DJJ about Wells, officials recently told him he must sign an agreement to uphold the new policy to remain a volunteer at the facility. Wells said DJJ Superintendent Gene Wade told him if any children ask questions about sexuality, he could give them Scripture references to look up on their own, but he could not “read it in their hearing.” In addition, he could not use the word “sinful” or “discuss sexual orientation—heterosexual or homosexual—period.”

Wells refused to sign the agreement and the superintendent revoked his volunteer privileges on July 7.

“Pastor Wells must be able to discuss what the Bible says about matters of sexuality with the juveniles he is trying to help,” Liberty Counsel chairman Mat Staver said in a press release. “To remove the Bible from a pastor’s hands is like removing a scalpel from a surgeon’s hands. Without it, they cannot provide healing.”

On July 23, Liberty Counsel issued a demand letter asking the DJJ to immediately reinstate Wells, declaring his banishment a violation of both the First Amendment and the Kentucky Constitution’s free speech guarantee. But in a response letter, Commissioner Boy Hayter said the pastor would not be reinstated because the policy was “neutral as to religion,” the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.

But some see the firing as a new litmus test for pastors.

“By restricting speech which volunteers are allowed to use while ministering to youth detainees … [the policy] requires affirmation of homosexuality as a condition of providing spiritual guidance to troubled youth, and singles out a particular theological viewpoint as expressly disfavored by the State of Kentucky,” the letter said.

Wells must now decide whether he will sue the DJJ for viewpoint discrimination.