19-year-old Jacob Kersey, a young Georgia cop who claims he felt forced to resign his position after being reprimanded for publishing a Facebook post about the Bible and gay marriage, is now taking action.
Kersey, who was a police officer in Port Wentworth, Georgia, for less than a year, found himself in the crosshairs of controversy last month.
Speaking with CBN’s Faithwire recently alongside his attorney, Christine Pratt of First Liberty Institute, he recounted what happened and explained the legal remedies they are taking in response to his departure.
“We’re hoping that the police department, first of all, issues a public apology,” Pratt said. “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,” she was quoted as saying.
For now, though, Pratt said “all options are on the table” if the police department doesn’t respond favourably to their requests.
Kersey, who shared that he loved being a cop, hopes Port Wentworth officials “make the right decision.” If he’s welcomed back to his job, he said he’ll have to take it to God and weigh all the options.
“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,” he reportedly said.
Kersey revealed that people have been blown away to hear what unfolded last month and admitted he, too, has been in shock. But he said these sorts of scenarios have long been warned about.
“When people hear this story, they’re just like, ‘Wow.’ They’re blown away that this is actually occurring in this country,” he said. “People have been sounding the alarm for years that this was coming, and it’s here. It happened to me.”
Kersey wants to make sure that something like this never happens again, so he will keep telling his story to raise awareness.
The former cop joined the Port Wentworth police force in May 2022 and graduated from the academy last September.
Months later, despite receiving what he said were highly favourable on-the-job reviews, he vacated the position with the Port Wentworth Police Department he worked so diligently to secure.
“I’M NOT REMOVING JESUS”
“On January 2, I made a Facebook post about God’s design for marriage,” Kersey said in an earlier interview. “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.”
The former officer said this sentiment is a “deeply held Christian belief” and one seen throughout the entirety of the Bible, but, even though he said he posted on his own time, he said that on January 3, his direct patrol supervisor called him and told him that someone had complained about his Facebook post.
“He stated that someone had complained, 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.’”
The ex-cop said he was then told the situation could lead to his termination. Kersey also claims he was advised to remember the “separation of church and state”—something that stunned him.
He eventually met with the police chief, who is said to have told him that his original post was the same as saying the “N-word.” This made Kersey very worried.
“He calls me the worst kind of racist just because I believe that God made marriage,” he said, adding that the whole thing left him “completely dumbfounded.” “I knew immediately that I needed to take a stand for God’s Word. I believe that was the Holy Spirit, because I love law enforcement.”
Source: CBN