Indy-Area Church Calls for Death to LGBTQ+ Community

INDIANAPOLIS — An Indianapolis church said members of the LGBTQ+ community should be put to death or kill themselves.

During a recent sermon titled “Pray the Gay Away” inside the Sure Foundation Baptist Church on the northwest side of the city, church leader Stephen Falco said the community should be ashamed of themselves and die.

“There’s nothing good to be proud about being a f*****. You ought to blow yourself in the head, in the back of the head. You’re so disgusting,” Stephen Falco said during the church’s “Men’s Preaching Night.”

The event was livestreamed on the church’s Facebook page.

“A bunch of f****** that want to come around, walk on our streets, and demand our children, and we should walk in the eye and say, ‘No, you’re not going to have our children,’” Falco added.

In a statement put out by the church, they backed Falco’s comments, saying it’s also up to the government to do something about the LGBTQ+ community.

“He’s only calling for the death penalty and suicide for the actual sodomites (homosexuals),” the church said of Falco. “The Bible teaches that those people are worthy of death. They are supposed to be executed by the government. We are not to take the law into our own hands.”

Local faith leaders are condemning the church’s message. Ali Klausing, a mother of four kids and an advocate in the queer community, told WISH-TV that these types of messages could have a negative impact on young kids.

“These children don’t know social constructs until we teach them that, and so when we’re teaching them through hate and disguising it through Scripture, what we’re doing is abusing them invisibly,” Klausing said.

The Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis released the following statement about Falco’s comments:

“The Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis stands firmly against the harmful rhetoric recently preached that condemned all LGBTQ individuals to hell and instructed people to stay away from them. Such messages are not only theologically irresponsible but pastorally dangerous. The pulpit must never be used as a weapon to dehumanize, isolate, or incite fear. Jesus said in John 12:47, “I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.” The Gospel of Christ is good news for everyone, not a tool to pronounce damnation on any group. The Black Church, born in the crucible of oppression, must never mimic the very spirit of exclusion that once rejected us. We are called to be a sanctuary for the marginalized, not a platform for prejudice. We reject the notion that LGBTQ individuals are outside of God’s reach, grace, or redemption. True holiness is not about who we hate; it is about how we love. While we affirm that sin exists in all of us, we also affirm that God’s grace extends to all of us. Our mission is not to decide who is beyond salvation, but to embody the inclusive love of Christ. Let it be known: the Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis will continue to stand for dignity, inclusion, and justice for all people, including our LGBTQ brothers and sisters.”