Cult Leader Killed “Gay” Four-Year-Old

The leader of a religious cult in North Carolina has justified murdering a four-year-old boy by saying he thought the child was gay.

Peter Lucas Moses shot and killed Jadon Higganbothan, after his mother refused to “get rid of him.” Jadon was one of nine children living in a small house with Moses and his five common-law wives.

Apparently Moses was convinced Higganbothan was gay because his father had abandoned his mother, and because he had witnessed the four-year-old smacking another child on the bottom.

If a relationship break-up beyond your control and a playful slap amongst friends constitutes raging homosexuality, then there are a lot of people out there who have just been unceremoniously “outed.”

But in all seriousness, this story is utterly tragic.

Even if Higganbothan had grown up to be gay, his life was far more valuable than the way it played out. This is 2011 and no longer can a heterosexual life be deemed more precious than a homosexual one, by anyone.

Jadon wasn’t Moses’ only victim. Not only were the cult leader’s views on homosexuality severely warped, so too were those about women.

Moses also murdered Antoinetta Yvonne McKoy, a 28-year-old woman who had tried to escape the suffocating group. Witnesses say Moses had treated Antoinetta differently to the rest of his wives because she was unable to have children.

The essentialist and chauvinist principles underlying such a belief are disgustingly outdated. It is a gross blight on our past, and some of our present, that women are valued only for their childbearing abilities and are cast aside when they cannot or will not fulfill this role.

No religion condones the killing of women and children, so society must accept no sick explanations in the name of faith.

Contact the author here: brianna@morningquickie.com