Watauga says ‘nothing city can do’ after residents say they want anti-gay church gone
Watauga Mayor Arthur Miner said Tuesday he is discussing the status Stedfast Baptist Church with the city attorney.
His comments came after Monday’s meeting during which residents told the city they wanted the anti-gay church out of their community.
Miner said the attorney has told them it is a First Amendment issue.
“There is nothing the city can do at this time, but we are looking at other avenues,” he said without elaborating.
Miner said he has been getting hate mail since Stedfast moved to Watauga from Hurst after it violated the terms of its lease which prohibited violence and threats.
“They think that Watauga invited the church here,” Miner said. “That’s not true. If someone leases a building, it’s between the landlord and lease. The city issues a certificate of occupancy.”
Brandy Sottilo, who has been protesting against the church, said she will continue to fight to force the congregation to leave Watauga because of its threats of violence toward the LGBQ community.
“I am over their drama,” she said.
On Monday, protesters spoke during the council meeting stating that the church promotes hate-filled, violent rhetoric against the LGBTQ community, and they are concerned about their safety.
Church officials told council members they have been harassed by the protesters.
Sottilo said church members yelled at the protesters as they were leaving the meeting Monday night.
Monday’s meeting came a week after a pastor at the church called for all homosexuals to be executed.
Around 15 people, both LGBTQ supporters and members of Stedfast Baptist, signed up to speak during Monday’s meeting.
Hillary Ward of Pantego said a church that spreads hate has no place in the community.
“The attacks against the LGBTQ community won’t go unanswered,” she said.
Another speaker asked City Council to talk to the owner of the shopping center (Cider Property Inc. of Dallas, according to the Tarrant County tax records) where Stedfast Baptist is leasing space at 6900 Denton Highway to ask them to leave Watauga.
Last week, Dillon Awes, a pastor at Stedfast, said during a sermon that “these people should be put to death,” Awes continued: “Every single homosexual in our country should be charged with a crime, the abomination of homosexuality that they have, they should be convicted in a lawful trial, they should be sentenced to death, they should be lined up against a wall and shot in the back of the head.”
Awes spoke during the council meeting and accused protesters of harassing Stedfast members.
He described how they blocked church members’ vehicles and kept families from leaving. He said the police department did nothing to help the church.
“It’s a tinderbox for violence,” Awes said.
He played recordings of voicemail messages of people calling for church members to be murdered by a firing squad.
Pastor Jonathan Shelley said protesters knocked down signs. “They don’t just hate me, they hate Christians,” he said.
Shelley declined to comment after Monday’s meeting, but has told the Star-Telegram previously that he is following teachings from the Bible and he is not advocating for violence against homosexuals.
Shelley also said that he is following what is written in Leviticus 20:13, which says: “If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.”
Jayden Sottilo, a transgender boy from Bedford, called the church a danger to the people in Watauga.
Sottilo’s mother, Brandy, began protesting against Stedfast in June of 2021, when the church leased a building in Hurst.
Stedfast was evicted from that location earlier this year for violating the terms of the lease, which stipulated no threats or violence.
Another speaker, Lynette Sharp of Watauga, said, “I no longer feel safe in Watauga.”
She wants the city council to explain how they will keep the city safe.
“I live here. This is my community, I will not stop protesting,” she said.
This story was originally published June 13, 2022 at 10:54 PM.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Stedfast Baptist Church.