Jul 03, 2009  |  By: Staff & Wire Reports  | COMMENTS     

MANCHESTER — State officials in Connecticut are taking action after a video showing a 16-year-old boy undergoing an apparent gay exorcism surfaced online.

A spokesperson for True Colors, a sexual minority youth and family services group in Connecticut, said the state’s Department of Children & Families has become involved.

In the video, the boy is shown lying on the floor, convulsing, while adults try to cast a “homosexual demon” from his body. The church behind the exorcism, Manifested Glory Ministries, is a non-denominational black church in Bridgeport.

Kamora Herrington, the mentoring program director at True Colors, said the boy had been involved with True Colors for two years and wanted to accept his sexual orientation, but an “underlying religious piece tells him it’s wrong, it’s evil, it’s demons, and that he’s going to hell.” Herrington said the boy requested that Manifested Glory Ministries perform the exorcism.

“He was searching for acceptance and unfortunately he found acceptance in this church,” she said. “They are so far outside the mainstream and we can’t even say this is something that mainstream churches do.”

The Connecticut Department of Children and Families did not return a call for comment.