A pastor in North Carolina has apologized for remarks he made during a sermon where he said women’s clothing choices are responsible for sexual assault.
During a sermon recorded last August that recently went viral, the Rev. Bobby Leonard of Bible Baptist Tabernacle in Monroe, N.C., said that if he were serving on the jury for a rape trial, he would acquit a male rapist if his female victim were wearing shorts during the assault.
“If you dress like that and you get raped, and I’m on the jury, he’s going to go free,” Leonard said, adding later, “I’m right, you know, because a man’s a man.”
On Wednesday, former church member Ben Rudy protested Leonard’s comments in front of the church.
“It broke my heart that he would say something like that,” Rudy told WSOC TV.
Jason King, a Sunday school teacher in the area, also spoke out against Leonard, saying that even if a woman were walking around nude, “it’s still not right [to attack her], and it’s still a man’s choice whether he does wrong or right.”
Additional protests are scheduled for Sunday, according to a post on the blog The Roys Report, whose founder Julie Roys initially posted the clip of Leonard.
On Thursday, Leonard’s church acknowledged the pain his comments might have caused.
A sign in front of the church now reads, “I am sorry for any hurt. I was wrong ― Pastor Leonard.”
Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.