Mon 27 Sep 2010 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Long prepares to speak today Followers of Brian Tamaki's "spiritual father" have cheered as he today vowed to fight allegations of sexual coercion leveled at him by four young men from his congregation. American preacher Bishop Eddie Long, whose evangelical style and 'prosperity gospel' approach to religion have been imitated by Destiny Church's Tamaki here in New Zealand, is facing allegations that he used money, jewelry and cars to coerce the teenagers into having sex with him. One sexual episode is said to have occurred in Auckland. Like Tamaki, Long has for years railed against the 'sin' of homosexuality and strongly opposed equal rights for glbt people. Addressing his followers from the pulpit today Long, who lives an opulent lifestyle receiving millions of dollars from his church annually, said he is not the person that he is being portrayed as being and that he will fight the allegations. He did not specifically claim innocence as statements issued by his lawyers have done. Although the congregation were all seen to cheer him in the televised service, local Atlanta media report that some of Long's followers are less certain as to the truth of the matter. You can comment on this New Zealand gay community news story in the GayNZ.com Forum
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 27th September 2010 - 11:01pm