November 2015 – For years, David Wells, a pastor in McQuady, Kentucky, has ministered to inmates at a nearby juvenile detention center. However, in July his volunteer credentials with the Kentucky Department of Justice were revoked because he refused to agree to a new policy that forbids quoting the Bible or discussing sexual orientation and behavior. These issues often arose as he ministered to young inmates.
The new policy requires staff and volunteers not to imply or tell any juveniles that they are “abnormal, deviant, sinful, or that they can or should change their sexual orientation or gender identity.”
A July 23 Liberty Counsel letter demanded that Wells’ volunteer credentials be reinstated, but Kentucky Commissioner Bob Hayter refused on the grounds that the policy was “neutral to religion.”
