A former Georgia cop who resigned from his position after facing dicsiplinary actions for sharing his beliefs on biblical marriage is taking legal action.
Jacob Kersey, who served with the Port Wentworth Police Department for less than a year, has teamed up with the First Liberty Institute, a conservative legal organization based in Plano, Texas, following his departure from the police force.
“We’re hoping that the police department, first of all, issues a public apology,” First Liberty attorney Christine Pratt, who spoke alongside Kersey, told CBN’s Faithwire.
“They’ve rode roughshod over Jacob’s constitutional rights, and we would like to see them retract what they said – that they would instead issue a policy statement showing that they understand what the Constitution requires of them.”
According to CBN News, Kersey hopes that Port Wentworth officials “make the right decision” and will take the matter to God if he is welcomed back.
“I have to pray about it and see what doors open and see where God leads me,” he said. “At the end of the day, I hope that they make the right decision … to ensure that they protect the rights of the other officers that still work there.”
As reported by Faithwire, Kersey resigned from the police department after controversy ensued over a post he shared on Facebook about “God’s design for marriage.”
“On Jan. 2, I made a Facebook post while I was off-duty about God’s design for marriage,” Kersey said last month. “And the post simply stated that God created marriage, marriage refers to Christ in the church, and that’s why there’s no such thing as homosexual marriage.”
He noted that his direct patrol supervisor informed him that someone complained about his post, even though he wrote it in his own time.
“He stated that someone had complained [and] that I would need to remove the post,” Kersey said. “And I stated, ‘Well, that’s a deeply held Christian belief of mine. I won’t be able to remove it.’”
Shortly after, Kersey’s police chief told him his Facebook post could be likened to saying the N-word.
“He equates me to the most horrific kind of racist, simply because I have a belief in God’s design for marriage,” Kersey said, adding that the case left him in “complete disbelief.”
“I knew immediately that I needed to take a stand for God’s Word. I believe that was the Holy Spirit because I loved law enforcement, and I love law enforcement.”
In May 2022, Kersey joined the Port Wentworth police force and graduated from the academy last September.
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Alessandro Photo
Video courtesy: ©CBN News
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.
