African-American church leader pays price for opposing restroom ordinance

An African-American pastor who stood up for bathroom privacy says he has been attacked personally and professionally by gay activists determined to crush his business and turn his life into “chaos.”

Bishop Kenneth Adkins, overseer at Greater Dimensions Christian Fellowship in Brunswick, Georgia, publicly opposed a Jacksonville city ordinance that would allow biological men to use women's bathrooms. At one point, he posted a picture of himself with a wig on Facebook and threatened to demonstrate against the transgender ordinance in drag.

He said the citizens of Jacksonville should vote on whether to expand the city's Human Rights Ordinance rather than leaving the decision with city council members.

At the third and final public hearing on the city ordinance in December, Adkins received applause when he said, “We live in a time that Christians need a law passed to protect them. It’s crazy because we can no longer say what we believe.”

The Jacksonville City Council voted on the transgender ordinance, which lost by one vote. 

Since then, Adkins says gay activists have targeted him and his business. 

“I succeeded in derailing a local city council ordinance in Jacksonville, Florida, and since then I have been unmercifully punished and demonized by radical gay activists and their liberal allies," Adkins told LifeSiteNews.

"In fighting the Jacksonville ordinance, I was simply following a guiding principle of the Bible. Activists chose to ignore my religiously inspired motivations and decided to make an example out of my principled opposition and the leadership I provided in order to structure a winning coalition."

"They seek to intimidate anyone who opposes their agenda."

Adkins, a public relations expert, runs Issachar Media Group, which does campaign marketing, political consulting, publicity, webpage design, graphic design, and Facebook design. His clients include State Rep. Alex Atwood, Brunswick Mayor Pro-Tem James Brooks, city councilmen, school board members, county commissioners, attorneys, judges, community centers, the city of Brunswick, churches, and fellow clergy.

"The 'radical left' and its gay activist allies retaliated against (me) by pressuring several of my faith-based, non-political clients to drop my firm, Issachar Media Group," he said. "All in all, this kind of sustained pressure resulted in the loss of several key clients to my public relations firm."

Adkins added that part of the campaign against him included a Jacksonville attorney backing out of representing Adkins in an unrelated personal injury lawsuit.

Furthermore, Adkins and his wife received an eviction notice for their home in Georgia. Adkins said his landlord was threatened by gay activists with picketing and demonstrations designed to "disrupt the community's right of quiet."

"By attacking my home, my business interests, and my potential recovery in a personal injury action, they not only violated my personal life, but they also negated my constitutional freedoms of speech and religion," Adkins charged.  "Overnight, my life became chaos."

Referring to his gay opponents, Adkins told LifeSiteNews, "They seek vengeance.  Against these ferocious, coordinated attacks, both in intensity and in scope, I need help.  It is why I am asking believers in the Judeo-Christian worldview to help me by contributing to the GoFundMe appeal entitled 'StandingforGod.'"

A GoFundMe page was set up for Adkins to offset the economic pressure campaign against him. "As a black conservative, I have never taken welfare and do not intend to start now," Adkins said.  "However, the radical left's actions have caused the income of my firm to be reduced tenfold. As a consequence … my firm will be forced into bankruptcy and will also result in several of my long-term employees losing their jobs."

"To prevent this disaster from happening — simply because I exercised my American constitutional rights of freedom of expression and belief as well as performing my professional duties to a Christian coalition — I request financial assistance through interim funding," the bishop announced. 

"We must stop the bullies who no longer seek democratic dialog but rather seek to force, intimidate, and bully others in order to achieve their political goals," Adkins posted on his GoFundMe page. 

Adkins said some gay leaders recognize and condemn the actions against him. 

"Gay rights icon Andrew Sullivan puts these kind of incidents in perspective when he opposed similar repressive actions against Brenden Eich, the former CEO of Mozilla,” he said.

Sullivan wrote, “The whole episode disgusts me — as it should disgust anyone interested in a tolerant and diverse society. If this is the gay rights movement today — hounding our opponents with a fanaticism more like the religious right than anyone else — then count me out. If we are about intimidating the free speech of others, we are no better than the anti-gay bullies who came before us.”