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Bomb & Murder Threats
Received by MCC Church

Target: Mostly Gay Church in Vancouver, Washington

Message Threats Said Made by Casey Peirsol, Suspect

Compiled by GayToday
Metropolitan Community Churches

Vancouver, Washington-- A 44-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday, May 21, after threatening to bomb the predominantly gay Metropolitan Community Church of the Gentle Shepherd in Vancouver, Washington, and to kill the pastor.

According to Reverend Dianne Shaw, senior pastor, the man had phoned the church seven times over the past year. "The early calls were rambling and disoriented, but last week the calls turned overtly hostile and threatening," said Shaw. Two of the messages threatened to bomb the church and one contained a death threat against the Reverend Shaw.

MCC Gentle Shepherd in Vancouver, Washington was the target of bomb threats

Shaw saved three of the messages and turned them over to police, including one in which the caller said: "I'm going to burn your [expletive deleted] church to the ground because you're gay and lesbian homosexuals."

Police traced the calls to Casey Gene Peirsol, who has been charged with malicious harassment and making a bomb threat. Vancouver police say they believe Peirsol was plotting to blow up the church to kill Shaw.

It is not known if he intended to carry out his plan during a service when the church would be filled with parishioners. Peirsol is being held on $50,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Superior Court on June 11.

Shaw says her church is coping well in the face of the threats. The church has remained open and no services have been canceled.

MCC of the Gentle Shepherd is a member congregation of Metropolitan Community Churches, a Christian denomination with more than 300 churches in 22 countries. MCC churches have a primary, affirming ministry to gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered persons. Founded in 1968 by veteran human rights activist Revernd Troy D. Perry, MCC churches are no strangers to threats and hate crimes.

Perry, an official delegate to the 1997 White House Conference on Hate Crimes, notes that 21 of the predominantly gay MCC churches have been targets of arson and fire bombing, and more than half have been targets of threats, physical attacks, hate calls and hate mail, vandalism, graffiti, or desecration.

"MCC congregations have been the targets of hate crimes at a level virtually unparalleled in American society. Seven percent of MCC congregations have been targets of arson or fire-bombing over the last three decades, a rate we believe to be higher than for any other institution -- religious, political or civic -- in American society.

Perry added, "Hate crimes against our churches and people have been virtually ignored by the press and broadcast media, and reflect a systemic, societal view which devalues gay and lesbian citizens."

"At the same time, I want to publicly recognize the civil officials in Washington State, and in the Vancouver area, who took these threats seriously and who took immediate steps to protect the lives of gays and lesbians there. We are thankful for their help."

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Perry has witnessed more than three decades of hate crimes against gays and lesbians.

He notes:

"In 1977, I attended the first-ever White House meeting with representatives of the gay and lesbian communities. In meetings with members of the White House staff and in conversations with President Jimmy Carter, I pleaded for the use of presidential leadership to protect and affirm the equality of America's gay and lesbian citizens." "I am saddened that 25 years later, our members still lose their jobs solely because of their sexual orientation... our worship services are still threatened... our churches are still victimized by the hate crimes of vandalism, intimidation and desecration. Our nation is better than this. Our people deserve better than this. Acts such as these are reminders that our work on behalf of social and spiritual justice is still far from finished."