'Come back dressed like a man.' Pastor recounts his confrontation with person dressed in 'drag' on Facebook Live.

Hope Schreiber
·Writer

A Chicago pastor who was documented in a Facebook video publicly calling out a person during a worship service, labeling the individual a “drag queen” and asking the congregant to leave the church reiterated his actions in a Facebook Live video — and said he stands by them.

Pastor Antonio Rocquemore of Power House International Ministries told the unidentified person in the congregation, “Can you leave my church and go put on man clothes? And don’t come here like that no more. I hold a standard in here. Whatever you do on the outside is your business, but I will not let drag queens come in here. If you’re gonna come in here, you’re gonna dress like a man.”

Most Christians share a “come as you are” belief, but the pastor says that he has rules for his church, which include “men dressing like men, and women dressing like women.” In an hourlong Facebook Live video, the pastor goes on to say that his dress code includes women not wearing leggings and that he has kicked members of his family out of his church if they were not appropriately dressed.

Rocquemore goes on to explain in the video that he and the person, who he claims has been a member of the church for several months, had a private discussion in which he informed the individual, “There’s certain things we just don’t allow. You cannot dress like a female coming to church.”

“He is, I repeat, he is not a stranger off the street,” the pastor said in his video. “I heard somebody say he was a visitor and he came in off the street and we lost a soul. See, that’s not accurate information.” He also explains that he did not kick the unnamed churchgoer out of the service for being gay; he simply had an issue with the attire.

According to Rocquemore, the person challenged him publicly, and he “challenged him back publicly.”

People were divided on the original video in which Rocquemore asks the person to stand up and leave his service.

“God said come as you please. And the First Amendment say that you have freedom of expression, and if that person feel to express themselves like that, well, you can’t stop that person or kick them out of your church. That person should sue him,” one person wrote in the comments section.

“He was so right for what he said. That’s what’s wrong with the world today. Y’all allowing this ignorant in the house of Lord like it’s right. Heck no!!! This man is going to be blessed for what he did. I don’t care how none of y’all feel because it was right,” a supporter said.

“You should be preaching and not concentrating on what the people are wearing,” one shared, while another woman wrote, “The church must stand for something.”

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