Video of Church's 'Casting Out' Gay 'Demon' in Teen Sparks Anger

(CNN) -- The boy writhes uncontrollably on the floor, but the church members remain calm, if increasingly loud. They're trying to drive a "demon" out of him.

"You homosexual demon, get up on outta here!" they say. "You demon, lose yourself!" "You sex demon ... you snake!"

The shouts, the convulsions, the references to homosexual spirits -- they are all captured on a video posted on YouTube by the Manifested Glory Ministries. The video has sparked anger among gay youth advocacy groups and put the small church from Bridgeport, Connecticut, in the middle of an ongoing national debate on gay issues.

Patricia McKinney, pastor of the nondenominational church who describes herself as a prophet, said she has even been receiving death threats as a result of the video, but doesn't understand the outrage.

"I believe in deliverance, I believe in anointing, I believe in the power of Jesus," she said in a phone interview with CNN. "I've been threatened already, I've been attacked, and it doesn't make any sense to us. Really, what they're doing, they're putting me out there on the mat."

McKinney says she doesn't refer to the events of the video as an exorcism, but rather a "casting out of unclean spirits." She said this isn't the first time that an event like this has taken place at her church, but it is the first one centered around homosexuality.

McKinney said the boy approached the church and told her he wanted to be a pastor, but was struggling with his sexuality. "We allow [gay people] to come into our church. We just don't allow them to come in and continue to live that lifestyle," she said.

"God made Adam and Eve," she said. "He made a woman to be with a man, and a man to be with a woman."

Robin McHaelen, who worked with the 16-year-old boy at the center of the video in her position as executive director of True Colors Inc., a gay youth advocacy and mentoring program in Connecticut, said the video was taped in March. She would not identify the teen.

McHaelen said she doesn't think the church acted maliciously -- but that's part of her problem with the video.

"None of the people in this video were intending to hurt this kid," she said. "They performed this ritual in an attempt to rid him of feelings that he didn't want to have."

The boy is the fifth teen True Colors is aware of that has undergone an event like the one documented in the video. But unlike the boy, not all the teens approached a church or religious organization.

The event, McHaelen said, reflects a culture and society that doesn't believe a person can be both Christian and gay.

"That's what makes me so sad and so mad," she said.

McHaelen said she talked to the boy since the incident and said he's feeling very conflicted and confused in trying to reconcile who he is with his religion.

"He's 16 and having the feelings that he's having, the relationships he's having, and then [he's] being tormented by 'What if I'm going to go to hell because of what I feel and who I am?'" she said.

McHaelen notified the Connecticut Department of Children and Families, as she's mandated to do in her position when she suspects abuse or neglect of a minor. However, she told CNN the department will be looking into whether or not abuse or neglect occurred by the parents and family of the boy, not the church. The department declined to comment Thursday.

Isaiah Webster, Director of Communications for the National Youth Advocacy Commission, said he was deeply saddened by the timing of the video and the accompanying uproar.

"It's very, very sad that this still takes place in society," he said. "It's also very sad that it comes about during this week, [as the] 40th anniversary of Stonewall is this weekend."

The so-called "Stonewall Riots" are believed by many to have kicked off the gay liberation movement.

"That is really something to celebrate," Webster continued, "and it's unfortunate that young people still have to endure things like this."

McHaelen said that as an advocacy group, she doesn't think True Colors can take any legal action against the church, and said she would rather engage in an open dialogue with its members.

Naked vandal trashes Seattle church

SEATTLE - Services were moved to the parking lot of a Rainier Beach church after a naked man smashed through a window Saturday, spattering HIV-positive blood inside and leaving a trail of destruction through the house of worship.

Officials believe the 46-year-old suspect was high on PCP during his unholy rampage through the Unity Church of God in Christ - and now the church interior is considered a bio-hazard because of the tainted blood inside.

The bizarre incident left church members in shock, but now they're learning it may be more than just a coincidence - because, as it turns out, the suspect's brother killed himself there on church property on the same Sunday 29 years ago.

Neighbors say it was about 4 a.m. Saturday when the man hurled his naked body against a window and smashed through.

The jagged, broken glass left cuts all over his body that created a trail of blood spatters and smears throughout the interior of the church.

The pastor, Rev. James Hicks, says church members started cleaning up the mess until they learned that the man is HIV-positive and has hepatitis C - possibly creating a bio-hazard inside the house of worship.

The rampage went from room to room - a picture gallery was torn from the walls, a trophy case was broken open, mirrors were shattered - and blood was smeared on walls, fixtures and furniture.

"Just to see (the pictures) torn up on the floor. It was really, really really devastating to us," says the pastor.

"The thing is that he cut himself, and he had blood all over the trophy case, blood where the mirror was, blood around the doors."

The naked vandal triggered an alarm, and police arrested him outside a short time later. He's now in jail for investigation of burglary.

Volunteers got busy cleaning up until they realized the potential danger. "They said, 'We don't suggest that you do this clean-up,'" Hicks says.

The church scheduled an outdoor service in the parking lot for Sunday morning after they realized they could not use the sanctuary.

"That just knocked the wind out of our sails, cause we knew then we had to do something different," Hicks said.

But church members say they have already forgiven the man, whose brother hung himself from a tree on church property on the first Sunday of June 29 years ago.

"I don't think it's a coincidence, and I believe that my neighbor said he heard him saying, 'I love you, I love you,' and he heard all that tearing up and commotion," explains church member Angelia Hicks-Maxie.

At the outdoor Sunday morning service, the pastor remembered the man in his prayers.

"Oh God, we ask that you look upon the young man who did this - amen. Because our business is forgiveness, yes, Lord."

Church member Billy Williams says, "The Bible says things work together for the good. And we don't understand it but our business is forgiveness and soul-saving, and some strange way God will get the glory out of this."

Now, the reaching out is both ways.

"His brother actually called," says the pastor, "and apologized on behalf of his brother so the forgiveness, the emotions are already starting to the healing can begin."