Yesterday marked the first day of the “Make America Straight Again” conference — near Orlando, during Pride month, on the third anniversary of the Pulse nightclub massacre.
It was put on by a number of leaders of the New Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (NIFB) movement. This is a group of people who claim to be united by Jesus but who are actually bonded by their unflinching hatred toward LGBTQ people.
The livestream for the event was taken down by YouTube hours after it began — though the official channel is still up… because it’s YouTube — and there’s no telling how successful they’ll be in live-streaming the rest of their hate rally to a wider audience, but copies of the speeches are making the rounds already.
I want to share some of their comments here only because people need to know what sort of bigotry is being justified in the name of Christ. You can’t push back against it unless you know what they’re saying.
The first speaker was Roger Jimenez, who said shortly after the Pulse massacre that the worst thing about it was that the shooter “didn’t finish the job.”
After being introduced yesterday, he mentioned that even though this was his first time in Florida, he felt like he had a “connection to the city”… which is what passes for humor at this hate-rally.
Here are some of the lowlights of his sermon:
If we can get the queers to go back into the closet, that’d be great. I mean, if we can get the government to actually do what it’s supposed to do and put them to death, that’d be amazing.
…
There is something wrong in your thinking to be… a man that’s attracted to another hairy, stinky, ugly man.
…
It is insane to think that it’s fine for a person to have a physical relationship with an animal. It is insane to think that it’s fine for a woman to have a physical relationship with another woman, for a man to have a physical relationship with another man, and — look, we’re heading in this direction — it is insane to think that it’s fine for an adult to have a relationship with a child! And that’s the next step. And that’s where we’re headed. And it’s insanity.
—
The media has done a good job at making you think these bunch of homos are just happy-go-lucky, they’re just a little flamboyant, they’re just kinda funny, they’re quirky, they’re nice. The Bible says that their conscience has been seared… that’s what it means to have a reprobate mind.
…
They’re insane. And they’re not insane like “I don’t know what I’m doing.” They’re insane like “A psychopath” insane… They’ll kill you and it won’t bother them. They’ll molest your kids and it won’t bother them. They’ll go to bed with men, with women, with animals. They’ll do whatever and it won’t bother them. Why? Because their conscience is seared…
…
They’ll attack you. They’ll hurt you. These people are extremely dangerous.
…
These people are predators. They’re rapists. They’re given over to a reprobate conscience-seared mind. And they will hurt you. And they will hurt your children.
…
Let me just say this: They are worthy of death… Let me go ahead and give the disclaimer: We are not advocating that you go out there and have violence against sodomites. That is not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that this is something that the government should do… [God] put the death penalty on homosexuality… We’re not advocating taking the law into your [own] hands. But here’s what we’re saying… If the government would put them to death, it would make America safe again… And here’s what we’re saying… When they die, we don’t feel bad about it… When they die, we don’t care!
…
[Regarding Pulse] I’m still happy about it… That’s like asking me if 50 pedophiles died. And if you’re asking me “Are you sad that 50 pedophiles died?” the answer is no! Society is better for it. It’s good. It’s right. It’s great. I think it helps society. I think Orlando, Florida is still safer tonight!
After that sermon, there was a question-and-answer panel with several of the hate-preachers. Perhaps the most memorable question concerned logic: “Is every reprobate a homo?”
The response: “Every homo is a reprobate, but every reprobate is not necessarily a homo.” So there you have it. These people are shockingly capable of Basic Logic 101.
Other comments from the panel included Steven Anderson saying divorce was permitted if your spouse turned out to be a homosexual because “they have a right to get away from that AIDS dispenser.” Another pastor said that if you have a gay family member, you should “cut them off immediately” because “Do you want them molesting your children?”
After the panel, Pastor Aaron Thompson had his chance to speak to the crowd about the “sodomite infiltration and infestation,” and we got these nuggets:
I’d love to be able to just work for [a transgender suicide hotline] for, like, a week and just let them know that, “Hey, it’s okay, go ahead and just kill yourself.” Because these people were sick!
…
What does fagg*t mean? I just Googled it, alright? A male homosexual is the number one answer, alright? Number two is a bundle of sticks or twigs bound together as fuel. So both definitions are correct. [Audience laughs.]
…
I don’t think all sodomites become sodomites because someone molested them. I think that they could become that way because they’re given over to a reprobate mind. But I think that there are a lot of people who get molested that do become homosexual. It’s just a fact.
…
We have to hide our YouTube sometimes — some of our worst sermons — or our best sermons, I think — but you gotta hide them because the YouTube JewTube mafia is gonna come in and take your channel away. What happened to free speech?!
…
How did all these people get turned into homos? Recruitment! They can’t reproduce, so they have to be recruited into it.
Well… after watching that bile for hours, my mind is thoroughly rotted and I need a long shower.
That was Day One. There are two more. This crowd includes children. These pastors are warping minds so that their audiences see LGBTQ people as diseased God-haters who deserve to be killed. They will always say the congregation shouldn’t be vigilantes, but they always deliver those lines with a not-so-subtle wink. It’s shocking they haven’t incited violence yet. But with hate speech like this, it won’t take much for someone to finally snap and kill someone, firmly believing they’re doing what God wants, and knowing that they will be treated as a hero by these hate-preachers.
It’s Moving Day for the Friendly ..."
It’s Moving Day for the Friendly ..."
It’s Moving Day for the Friendly ..."
It’s Moving Day for the Friendly ..."