Cormie’s parents asked him to come to church ever since he came out as gay. On September 8, he finally decided to go with his partner. “I wanted to make my mother proud”, the victim told local channel KFOR-TV.

After the service, the pastor started to preach about homosexuality. “It’s a sin, an abomination, you need to wake up”, the churchman allegedly said . Then, approximately fifteen congregants would have gathered around the couple. His partner was pushed out of the church. Cormie writes in a Facebook post that his own grandmother grabbed his arm trying to hold him down. “They were all praying loud and putting force on me praying the Gay Away”, the victim wrote in his message. “I was just crying, ‘Mercy, mercy’.”

When the congregants let Cormie go, he went to the local police station. Their case is now being investigated. Cormie and his partner say they get threats from unknown people instructing them to drop the investigation.

The church told local media it would “never condone restraint of any person”. It states there is much more to the story and describes it as an escalated family matter. “We are cooperating fully with law enforcement to bring all of the facts to light as a rush to judgment is not in anyone's best interest.”