LexCity scandal shows again that churches, not drag shows, are hurting our children | Opinion
Can we please stop talking about drag queens, part infinity?
Drag queens did not force the closure of LexCity Church just a few short weeks after one of its pastors was arrested for allegedly having sex with a minor. For a year.
Zachary King, 47, is facing charges of first-degree rape, third-degree rape, first-degree sodomy, third-degree sodomy, first-degree sexual abuse and procuring or promoting the use of a minor by electronic means, according to court records.
Not a drag queen.
No, that was clergy.
Yet again.
Someone, usually a man, in a position of power in a church, has once again been accused of abusing their power, their Christianity and their congregants.
King agreed to be interviewed by an investigator in Attorney General Russell Coleman’s Office, and he confessed that he had “engaged in a sexual relationship with a minor over the course of the last year and a half.”
Records show King told the investigator that he had “sexual intercourse with the minor starting at age 15 in January 2023, continuing until April 2024.”
He also admitted to having “sexual intercourse in the minor’s home, at his residence, and at the church where he was a former pastor.”
Yes, this abuse was done by a former pastor.
Not drag queens, even though they are routinely blamed for pedophilia and other unspeakable acts.
Nor is it the first time that LexCity, that aerodrome worship space you can see from New Circle Road, has had those kinds of problems.
The church used to be known as Quest. The rebranding occurred after lead pastor Pete Hise admitted to an inappropriate relationship with someone on his staff.
Not a drag queen, nor any member of the LGBTQ community, although they are blamed for these kinds of problems all the time.
We can argue whether LexCity is abdicating responsibility by closing its doors, or whether they are too tainted to “rebrand” yet again. For the people who found spiritual fulfillment there, I’m sorry. For the victims of its pastors, I’m even sorrier.
And angry.
What will it take in this world to make people stop demonizing people they don’t understand and start seeing the danger in the people they revere?
How many lives have been harmed by religious leaders? How about 700 victims of sex abuse in the Southern Baptist Church since 1998? How about the thousands of children abused in the Catholic Church, abuse that was routinely covered up?
How about even more in France, Germany and Ireland?
And those are just the ones we know about. But we know they’re not drag queens. They are Christian leaders, and for some reason they still have the power to hurt their parishioners. That’s what people should be outraged about.
Not drag queens.
