Bishop Eddie Long Denies Sexual Abuse as Plaintiffs' Lawyer Promises More Evidence
Sept. 22, 2010— -- A third man has come forward alleging that he was sexually abused by the Atlanta mega-church bishop already under fire in two similar lawsuits.
Jamal Parris, 23, alleged in a suit filed today that Bishop Eddie Long used his private plane to fly him around the world -- from Los Angeles to Trinidad to New York -- and sexually abused him along the way. Parris alleges in the documents, obtained by ABC News, that the bishop would request he be nude while in his presence and would request "sexual massages" and "oral sodomy" when they traveled.
Parris joins two other young men, Maurice Robinson and Anthony Flagg, who also say the bishop recruited them into the youth ministry and then forced sex upon them.
His accusers believe more young men will come forward from a youth ministry that numbered in the hundreds. The young men say that many people at the church who were close to Long knew what was going on but covered for him and kept quiet for years.
Although the allegations against New Birth Missionary Baptist Church Bishop Long appear damning, some church members say they refuse to believe they could be true.
But B.J. Bernstein, the lawyer for Robinson and Flagg, has said that she has photos, texts and e-mails that show a relationship between her clients and the bishop.
One of those photos viewed by ABC News depicts Long posing in what appears to be a bathroom stall in a red muscle shirt. The photo was sent via e-mail in November 2008 and is signed, "Eddie L Long, Amazed by His Grace."
"What pastor in his right mind sends a picture from himself, posing in his bathroom in a muscle shirt?" Bernstein said. "None that I know of. Especially one who is a committed homophobe."
Long has been an outspoken critic of what he has described in his writing as "fractured families," "with openly gay family members and relationships."
