Photo by spiggycat

Well, someone officially went there—a Maryland pastor said this week that same-sex couples will die, reports the Baltimore Sun:

A Randallstown pastor had harsh words for gays and supporters of same-sex marriage at a recent town hall meeting, saying those who vote yes on Question 6 are approving “things that are worthy of death.”

The pastor, Robert J. Anderson of the Colonial Baptist Church in Randallstown, was sitting on a dais with Derek McCoy, executive director of the Maryland Marriage Alliance, when he made the comments.

Anderson read from a portion of the Bible that refers to homosexuality. “Those who practice such things are deserving of death,” Anderson said, reading from the Bible.

Then he pivoted to the Nov. 6 referendum and said: “If we don’t vote against it we are approving of these things that are worthy of death.” Separately, he also said approving same-sex marriage could “open up a back door” to legalizing prostitution, incest and bestiality.

According to the Post, the leader of the coalition fighting same-sex marriage in Maryland tried to steer away from Anderson’s comments, and failed admirably: “Any attempt to imply that Dr. Anderson’s reading of scripture was a call to harm gays and lesbians is false and serves as a distraction from the real issues of this campaign,” he said.

We’re not experts in scripture, but we’re guessing that “deserving of death” is generally considered a “call to harm.”