NC Woman Accused of Having Son 'Beat the Gay" Out Of His Brother

A North Carolina mother of two has been charged with misdemeanor child abuse for ordering her son to "beat the gay away" out of his brother before beating the 15-year-old herself.

Local CBS affiliate WCET reports, Police were called to an incident on West Walter Street Saturday, and officers say when they arrived, there were several people yelling and screaming, according to a Whiteville police report.

According to the report, a 15-year-old said his mother, Mary Gowans, had his 12-year-old brother strike him repeatedly, and he was not allowed to fight back. She then reportedly made the teen strip down to his underwear, and proceeded to hit him with a belt across his body repeating to him that she was trying to "beat the gay out of him."

Police say there was a large abrasion on the 15-year-old's back.

The suspect, Mary Gowands of Whiteville, North Carolina claims that charges are false and that her son was intoxicated when he called police to report the alleged beating. In an interview with WCET news, she admitted to beating the teenager, but says it was for visiting a gay man's house, expressing concern that the man was molesting her son. Gowans also claims that the older son hit the younger son, so she had the 12-year-old hit him back.

A year earlier, an hour north in Fayetteville, North Carolina, pastor Sean Harris faced angry backlash for comments he made instructing his congregation to punch their sons if they showed signs of being gay.

As reported in The Week, the Baptist preacher said "The second you see your son dropping that limp wrist, you walk over there and crack that wrist." Harris, who was preaching on marriage ahead of next week's state-wide vote on the Amendment One gay-marriage ban, continued: "Man up. Give him a good punch."

After his words were posted on several blogs, Harris apologized for his comments, saying he was making a misguided attempt to be funny. "What I do stand by is that the word of God makes it clear that effeminate behavior is ungodly," Harris said. "I'm not going to compromise on that."