Christian conservative Flip Benham this
week blamed unrest in Charlotte following the recent police shooting
of Keith Lamont Scott on passage of an LGBT protections bill.
North Carolina Republican leaders
responded to passage of Charlotte's ordinance by approving a law that
blocks it from taking effect. House Bill 2 is also the first, and so
far only, state law that prohibits transgender people from using the
bathroom of their choice.
The September 20 shooting of Scott, 43,
provoked a wave of violent protests in downtown Charlotte.
Benham, a vocal opponent of LGBT
rights, blamed city leaders for the unrest, telling them during a
city council meeting last week that they had “unleashed hell in our
city” by prohibiting discrimination against the LGBT community.
After reading a passage from Isaiah 1,
Benham
said: “[T]he Lord Almighty has spoken to you on July 25th
these very words, that if you continue this rebellion against
Almighty God, blood is going to course down the corridors of our
schools, our workplaces and our streets!”
(Related: Flip
Benham: Passage of LGBT ordinance has 'opened the doors of hell on
Charlotte.)
“You need to turn back to Him. It is
you who unleashed hell in our city when you tried to say that boys
and girls are not that … You did it! Now repent [Mayor] Jennifer
Roberts, in the name of Jesus Christ!” he added.
Roberts
recently declined to back repeal of the ordinance as urged by GOP
state leaders.