Georgia pays $225K to settle lawsuit with anti-gay pastor

February 10, 2017 at 10:20 a.m. | Updated February 10, 2017 at 12:13 p.m.

by Associated Press

The American and Georgia state flags fly at half-staff to honor the passing of former Gov. Carl Sanders as snow plows line up outside the Georgia Department of Transportation's Maintenance Operations Facility during a statewide severe winter weather exercise, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014, in Atlanta. More than 600 participants from local and state government agencies, organizations and volunteer groups took part in the mock winter storm. Less than year after a snowstorm triggered an epic traffic jam that brought metro Atlanta to a halt, Georgia emergency management officials are highlighting what they'll do differently next time while acknowledging limitations in how they can respond to a major winter storm. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
The American and Georgia state flags fly at half-staff to honor the passing of former Gov. Carl Sanders as snow plows line up outside the Georgia Department of Transportation's Maintenance Operations Facility during a statewide severe winter weather exercise, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014, in Atlanta. More than 600 participants from local and state government agencies, organizations and volunteer groups took part in the mock winter storm. Less than year after a snowstorm triggered an epic traffic jam that brought metro Atlanta to a halt, Georgia emergency management officials are highlighting what they'll do differently next time while acknowledging limitations in how they can respond to a major winter storm. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia officials have agreed to pay $225,000 to a man who said his job offer was rescinded after videos emerged of him giving sermons criticizing gay rights and evolution.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Georgia Department of Public Health agreed last month to settle the religious discrimination lawsuit filed by Dr. Eric Walsh.

Walsh was a Pasadena, California health department official in 2014 when he was offered a job to run the Department of Public Health's northwest Georgia operations.

That offer was withdrawn after videos surfaced in California of sermons that Walsh had given as a preacher describing evolution as a "Satanic belief."

Officials have denied wrongdoing, saying they rescinded the offer because Walsh hadn't reported his outside employment as a pastor, not because of the sermons.

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