Iowa pastor demand removal of commission member

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Sioux City pastor is demanding the removal of a newly appointed member of the city’s Human Rights Commission, saying the man made threatening comments to him online nearly three years ago.

The Rev. Cary Gordon, pastor of Cornerstone World Outreach, says newly appointed commission member Scott Raasch wrote on a social networking site that he hoped Gordon and his family “burn in hell.”

The Sioux City Journal reports that Raasch acknowledges posting the remarks on Gordon’s Facebook page in December 2010.

Raasch, who is gay, says he posted the remarks after becoming angry about Gordon’s role in urging voters to remove three Iowa Supreme Court judges over their ruling that legalized gay marriage.

Raasch apologized for the remarks.