Award-winning gospel recording artist and pastor Donnie McClurkin was uninvited from a Martin Luther King Memorial concert this past weekend in Washington, DC. Why? Local pastors, and McClurkin himself, insist that DC Mayor Vincent Gray heeded the demands of gay rights activists, informing McClurkin the night before the event that he was "not welcomed and uninvited":

Donnie McClurkin, award-winning and internationally celebrated gospel recording artist and Christian minister, has claimed that he was uninvited from a MLK Memorial concert on Saturday in Washington, D.C. because Mayor Vincent C. Gray heeded the demands of gay rights activists who wanted him dropped from the event marking the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. McClurkin has previously shared that he believes God delivered him from the "sin of homosexuality" and that people with unwanted same-sex attractions can change.

McClurkin, pastor of Perfecting Faith Church in Freeport, N.J., stated in a Socialcam video: "The mayor of D.C. uninvited me from a concert that I was supposed to headline today in the Washington (National) Mall commemorating...this 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement. I was asked not to attend although I'm considered the headliner of the concert, and advertisements had been circulated and the churches as well as the community are prepared to come out by the tens of thousands into the Washington Mall (area)."

The New Jersey minister went on to reveal that he had received a phone call while on his way to the airport the night before the event and was told that he was "not welcomed and uninvited," according to promoters who had reportedly received word from Mayor Gray's office.

The Baptist Convention of the District of Columbia and Vicinity have released a statement to the press in response to Mayor Vincent Gray's actions: