Tag Archives: gay rights

Drug-Fueled Night lead to death, arrest of Priest

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It’s become a bit of a trope these days: a gay priest being caught in the act of coitus, and the ensuing scandal. What makes the case of 60 year old Father Bernard unique is that his 69 year old partner, identified as Andrew Wagstaff, died during their little tryst, and police are now investigating.

The two were in Belgium in anticipation of Pope Francis paying a visit. Apparently, this is their version of Woodstock, and so for good measure, the two took a bunch of pills, and shagged like bunnies:

The two men had used ecstasy and poppers while having sex together, police said, leading Wagstaff to feel unwell during the early morning hours of Friday, September 27. His sexual partner, identified in the media as Father Bernard, called the police after Wagstaff fell unconscious and couldn’t be resuscitated.

Now his church doesn’t know what to do with him, and the police are investigating to make sure there were no signs of foul play. Honestly, Bernard should just consider a different line of work. When you enjoy designer drugs and gay sex, the clergy is not a place for you. You’re better off being a bouncer at a gay bar by the sounds of things. Sure, the man is 60, but it’s never to late to change!

 

Gay Exorcisms on the Rise in Scotland

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What is it with religious people and their obsession with other people’s sex lives? It’s so damn creepy! This sick behavior has been going on for so long that they think they are the normal ones for trying to use any means to disrupt, or destroy the gay community. Religions are nothing more than the human ego masquerading as diving providence. These sexually repressed weirdos have deep seeded homophobia that is so out of control that they demand that the rest of the world conform to their obsessions.

The toxic mixture of Christianity (specifically Pentecostalism), Islam and tribal beliefs has ravaged countries like Zimbabwe. Progress is impossible as each group distrusts the other, and have different political aims. The Christian faction, heavily influenced by the Americans, have inherited their hatred of gays, and are now exporting their barbaric practices to the nations they seek refuge in. Refuge, I should remind you, from their own countries corrupted by faith.

The latest nightmare importation now includes gay exorcisms becoming increasingly frequent in Scotland. The church in question that practices this dangerous nonsense has a ridiculous name: the “Forward In Faith Church International Incorporated”, which sounds like an organization created by the movie character Borat. This tax exempt organization which claims to be engaged in charitable services, is in fact, simply able to make this claim because “advancement of religion” is considered charity. This so-called “advancement” just happens to include gay conversion therapy, which has yet to be outlawed in Scotland.

Considering the church boasts coffers of over 150 million dollars, it’s no surprise that these churches have been popping all over Scotland, as many people from Zimbabwe come there for work. There is an organization trying to fight to have their charitable status revoked, but I can’t ever recall in the nearly 20 years I’ve been covering religious abuse a single organization that ever lost it.

[National Secular Society] human right lead Alejandro Sanchez said: “This organization promotes vicious homophobia and misogyny, and may well be endangering lives with reckless allegations of witchcraft. “Any suggestion it is acting in the public benefit and worthy of charitable status is absurd… It is now time legislators urgently review ‘the advancement of religion’ as a charitable purpose. It must not be used as a back door for religious groups to promote conversion therapy and the subjugation of women.”

The laws are just too beneficial to religions. They have had centuries to imbed themselves into the fabric on society, and their first mandate was to make sure they would never have to pay their fair share to society, regardless of just how evil and sinister their organizations are. Not only that, but politicians, afraid that they will appear anti-religious and lose their jobs, refuse to act in the public interest on matters like this when it involves any faith. It’s sad, pathetic, and it can only change when the people who make policy decisions grow spines. Since this has never really occurred, Scotland will continue to have its cities sullied by the stench of religious zealotry. If there was ever something the world needed less of, it’s certainly this.

Outed Catholic Priest Suing Grindr Over Data Leak

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If you’re a straight man, odds are you have a tertiary knowledge of an app called “Grindr”. You probably know that it’s a program used by gay men looking to hook up. It’s used extensively by religious conservatives, who have to hide their sexuality from others. One such closeted man, a now former priest by the name of Jeffrey Burrill, was forced out of the church when he was exposed as gay by an organization called The Pillar, which seeks to expose gay priests in order to demonstrate the hypocrisy of the church. This angered Burrill, who is now suing Grindr for allegedly selling his information.

The ex-priest alleged in his lawsuit that The Pillar received that data from Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal (CLCR), a Christian non-profit that bought data from queer dating apps to track down Church leaders using them against their vows — implying that Grindr had sold it to the organization…Burrill said he’d never have joined the app had he known his data would be available to the public, according to the lawsuit.

Now, the tricky thing here is that there is no law preventing your data from being sold. In fact, that’s how most tech companies make their money. You are just a series of numbers as far as they are concerned, and any method of making money is kosher to them. It’s difficult to see just how Burrill is going to make his case here. If he had an expectation of privacy, then he chose the wrong program to fulfill his desires. In any case, he should be taking the opportunity to grow. He’s gay, and obviously enjoys sex, which means that he’s not exactly a good fit for a religious organization that forbids both of these things from its members. Being a disgraced priest is a badge of honor for many former members of the Church, and now that he’s out of the closet, perhaps Burrill can seek a loving relationship rather than tawdry sex. Just like the part of his body he was taught was sinful, it’s never too late to grow.

Taliban Kills Gay Man, Sends Video to Family

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The Taliban is perhaps one of the most vile organization on Earth. Although the name is derived from the Pashtun word for “student”, the only thing that these monsters are students of are the worst aspects of humanity: its cruelty and stupidity. While they were at war with the Soviet government, they were trained and armed by America, only to later go to war with them a few decades later. Then, when the US withdrew from Afghanistan, they made a deal with the devil in return for assurances that they would help them fight their greater enemy, Al Qaeda. The results were predictable. The agreement wasn’t worth the paper it was written on.

The goals of the group are simple: they want women to stay in the home and be constantly barefoot and preggers, ban all forms of entertainment, and destroy any other religious or ethnic minorities that they dislike. Among those that get their goat are gay people. With such fundamentalists in power, it’s not surprising that people of the LGBT community are in constant danger.

Just a few days ago, a gay man was murdered, and the whole affair was videotaped. With the deed done, the tape was then sent to family members as a chilling reminder that no one is safe:

Hamed Sabouri of Kabul, Afghanistan, died on August 5, activists said. The news of the 22-year-old’s death only became public this week after his former boyfriend informed the media. Graphic video footage of a murder, which Insider has viewed, appears to show a man resembling Sabouri being shot in the neck and head at least 12 times. Days later, the Taliban sent the disturbing execution video to Sabouri’s relatives and friends, who, in turn, forwarded it to the Afghan LGBTQ+ group Roshaniya.

His boyfriend is now in hiding, afraid that he will soon suffer the same fate. The chilling message was received: gays are living in constant fear, with danger lurking at every corner. My heart hurts at the idea of my fellow human beings being hunted simply because of how they feel inside. The Taliban, and all fundamentalist Islam is a bane on mankind, one that I can only hope will someday be in the dustbin of history.

Ohio Pastors Threaten Pride Event

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If there’s one provision in their faith that Christians cannot seem to abide by, it’s the “love thy neighbor” part. I can understand the confusion. When your god tells you to love your neighbor as yourself, and then simultaneously commands that you kill all the males and non-virgin women to take over a piece of land, it can all seem hard to follow at the end of the day. It would certainly explain their schizophrenia behavior when it comes to getting along with others.

In the city of Ashtabula in Ohio, pride parade organizers have declared that, despite the implicit threats made by many of the clergy there, they will be going through with their planned event. The city had allowed the parade to take part at the local beach, and it didn’t take long for religious assholes to start making threats during a city council meeting:

David Lettau, pastor of Country Gospel Church, read a passage from Romans 1 about “uncleanness” and then related it to the Pride Festival. “What they’re doing is teaching perversion to our children,” Lettau said. “We as a city are responsible for making sure that no decadent and perverse things go on… It’s worthy of death, it says in the Bible.”

Naturally, the gutless council did nothing to point out that this was a fairly explicit threat. In Christian communities, we call that a Tuesday. It didn’t take long for yet another pastor named James Combs to make his own threats, shortly after saying that he was being mischaracterized, and that he had a gay friend. Here’s the quote that he thinks is innocent:

“It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck,” Combs said. “So watch yourselves. We are called to watch over our children.”

How neighborly! I’m getting all chocked up thinking about it. In any case, the brave organizers of the event are undeterred by these fearful people. The problem, however, is that pastors like Combs are simply the linchpin to a greater evil. Their flock can be composed of twisted vigilantes that think they are protecting children. Their minds have been filled with hateful lies, and these typical underachievers have the same messiah complex that deluded suicide bombers have.

Even if nothing happens in this event, the fact that a city council did nothing to stop or counter the hateful rhetoric of these religious nutballs only emboldens them. Their political cowardice is going to cost some innocent lives eventually. There is a powder keg brewing in America, fueled by the antiliteralism of the religious right. We should all be deeply troubled, and equally worried by their animosity towards their fellow man.

Football Dummy Tells Graduating Women to Stay in the Kitchen

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I’ve always found it a useful exercise to put myself in the shoes of others. As a writer, there are immense advantages to doing so. I am not a young woman graduating from college, but I know that if I were, I would have been fuming if the Commencement speaker was telling me that I would be better off barefoot and preggers, rather than starting a career with the degree I worked so hard for.

That’s the situation the women at  Benedictine College, a catholic school located in Texas, found themselves in. The speaker was a pro athlete named Harrison Butker, who is a kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs, and has been an outspoken homophobe for quite some time. Given the mood in Catholic spheres, this seemed like a perfect person to invite to inspire the next generation of graduates.

After making a swipe at gays for having the gall of having Pride Month, he went on to tell all of the ladies in the audience this gem:

“I can tell you that my beautiful wife, Isabelle, would be the first to say that her life truly started when she began living her vocation as a wife and a mother. I’m on this stage, and able to be the man I am, because I have a wife who leans into her vocation. I’m beyond blessed with the many talents god has given me, but it cannot be overstated that all of my success is made possible because a girl I met in band class back in middle school would convert to the faith, become my wife, and embrace one of the most important titles of all: homemaker.”

Butker seemed genuinely choked up by this, as though this was some great revelatory thing that required bravery. The audience cheered, though I would have loved to see the faces of the members there. To the ladies who clapped, I have to wonder what you were doing there in the first place. What is the point of a degree when it never gets puts to use?

Keep in mind the Butker can actually afford to live on one income, thanks to the fact that a professional sports team pays him millions of dollars for occasionally kicking a football. This kind of privilege is so rare that only a handful of people on earth have this luxury. The rest of us who have to work for a living often have to compromise, and two working parents is not needed to put food on the table.

The rest of his speech is the kind of unhinged religious nonsense you’ve come to expect from the religious right. The sad truth is that this mentality still resonates with a good portion of people out there who long for a perceived “simpler” time, depicted in fantasy TV shows as the model of living. This would have been the same time America was at war, segregation was at its height, and the poverty rate was around 22% (its now closer to around 9%). So you know, the good old days!

The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 353

This episode, we talk about Ghana’s new repressive anti-LGBT laws, the Vatican protecting rapists, victims of Nuns seeking justice, and American’s thinking Religions is losing influence. This is an episode you won’t want to miss!

The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 353
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Greek Orthodox Church Threaten Excommunication over Gay Marriage

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You might have heard the news that Greece has joined the growing list of countries that recognize gay marriage. What you probably didn’t hear was all of the back lash the politicians who passed this legislation have received. It seems the Orthodox Church is not very happy with their representatives, and they have threatened them with excommunication from their little club.

Clerics have called for “immoral lawmakers” to be ostracized from the church, and ecclesiastical authorities on Corfu have announced that two local MPs would be banned from participating in any religious rites.

Aww, isn’t that a shame? Getting disinvited from this little gang of thugs actually sounds like a badge of honor to me. Keep in mind that we’re talking about an organization that has deep ties with organized crime. Just a few years ago, their leader was facing serious charges of aiding and abetting a known criminal.

It seems that the Church’s memory is a little fuzzy. Not long ago, there was a huge scandal involving the Archbishop Christodoulos, who had been caught helping a convicted drug smuggler. He was asked to resign. He refused, and died of cancer a few years later. His colleagues were having just a few legal problems of their own as well:

“The scandal began last month, when Bishop Theoklitos of Thessaliotis resigned after being accused of running a trial-fixing ring; four high-court judges and several politicians were allegedly paid large sums of money to clear the bishop and his associates of charges that included drug dealing and homosexuality (which is illegal in the church)… The scandal quickly spread to the highest levels of the church. Another bishop resigned after he was accused of have secretly laundered $17-million (U.S.), believed to have been earned by selling church property, and banking the money in U.S. accounts. A third resigned over stories of wild sex escapades involving prostitutes. Newspapers ran photos of a 91-year-old bishop naked in bed with a young woman. He has refused to resign… A further eight bishops are under investigation for crimes including smuggling, bribery, money laundering, drug dealing, pedophilia, prostitution and sexual harassment.

So these are the guys telling everyone else that they should be punished for allowing same sex couples to be able to officially be recognized as a couple. A bunch of pedos, thugs, and criminals think they are in a position to judge others. All they demonstrate is how out of touch they are with the rest of society. I hope the people they threatened enjoy a long and storied career in politics. There’s nothing like being despised by the bad guys to remind you that you’re doing the right thing.

I wonder if any of these clowns know they are on the wrong side of history…

Ghana Makes More Restrictive Laws Against LGBT Groups

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Religions long march towards repression continues, this time in the African country of Ghana. When an LGBT group tried to open up a center in their capital city of Accra, religious leaders, working in tandem with politicians, sprung into action. While it is already illegal to have same sex sexual relationships, it seems as though even this restrictive and inhumane law was not enough: now they want to jail anyone who dares to help these kinds of groups in any way.

This gay panic is brought to you by Christianity, which seems to believe that the worst thing on earth isn’t the sexual rape and torture of children, but consenting adults having intimate relations they don’t approve of. Forget about the near constant abuse of underage girls and boys, that’s something the public has no interest in uncovering, despite the fact that it’s a serious problem. How bad is it? Here’s a sample of the kind of incidents that happen with disturbing frequency:

Assistant Commissioner of Police, [name anonymised] … made it known to the press [at name of place anonymised] that… Pastor [name anonymised] admitted having sexual intercourse with the girl without her consent, during police interrogations. […] The victim, a member of the church, who was sick went to the pastor (in his house) for healing prayers. In the course of the prayers the pastor touched the mouth of the girl and all of a sudden, she fell floppy […] The victim woke up after about 15 minutes and saw that her pant was loose, and her private parts soaked with semen, an indication that the pastor had had sexual intercourse with her.

Keep in mind that the study that is being quoted could only rely on reported incidents from newspapers. There’s really no telling just how prominent these kinds of crimes are occurring, but if I know my religious organizations (which I certainly do), then I know that abuse is the norm in and Christian church. In order to get people to either ignore or forget about their perpetual and baffling abuse of their own congregants, religious leaders will often chose a scapegoat to rally their victims towards a common cause. The LGBT community is easy pickings, and so long as their population despises them, they have something that will forever distract their flock from ever uncovering the fact that their sheppards are wolves in disguise.

Yemeni Houthis to Stone 9 Gay Men in Public

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If you haven’t been following international news lately (and who could blame you), you might have missed out on the Houthis rebellion in Yemen, and the horrible consequences of having Muslim fundamentalists running around unchecked in your country. The Houthis rebels are funded by Iran, who uses these proxy fighters to cause chaos, and so far, their plan is working like a charm.

The religious group claims to care about the human rights issue in Palestine, but like most fundamentalist organizations, they simply use the chaos and sympathy as a recruitment tactic, and nothing more. As they gain more and more territory, they have begun to issue religious rulings to anyone they deem an enemy of Islam. This, unfortunately, includes people who have same sex attractions. They’ve been busy sentencing anyone they suspect of homosexuality to prison, with some “offenders” being sentenced to death by stoning. So far, over a dozen men have been condemned to die via the barbaric practice of stoning.

If you think that none of this effects you, consider that their constant attacks on US ships is moving us ever closer to a conflict that could engulf the whole world. Add to that the fact that the Houthis are threatening to destroy critical internet infrastructure, and there could be some pretty serious consequences as a result.

Just a nice daily reminder of just how much religion ruins everything. You’re welcome.

Canadian Muslims organize anti-gay rally

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Islam is the world’s most insecure religion. Every other day, they are jailing, or even stoning, apostates and non-believers. Of course, if you start to point out how violent and insecure they are, you get instantly accused of “Islamophobia”, their magic word that’s used to silence any critic. The mere mention of racism is enough to stifle most soft headed liberals who retreat at the idea of hurting anyone’s feeling, or challenging their identity. It’s what has allowed this barbaric religion to continue to abuse and even kill those who oppose their homogony.

Their obvious bigotry has become so open now that Canadian Muslims have decided that it would be acceptable to hold a march AGAISNT gay and trans people. They are billing it as a “Million Man for Kids”. The Alberta Muslim Social Association’s facebook page claims that the organization “…was built to bring families together in a safe and fun atmosphere.” Well, it’s all fun and games until someone in your family isn’t controlled by their Abrahamic faith, or likes someone of the same sex. Then it’s time to destroy them. Just listen to their bullshit mission statement:

As someone once said, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much”, over the past few months, thousands of parents, community leaders and activists from the Abrahamic tradition and others have justly voiced their concern regarding gender ideology and the protection of kids demanding more control and transparency over school curriculums. These concerns haven’t stemmed from a place of hate but rather from the obligation of protecting and preserving our children and future generations.

The good news is that these clowns have had zero success in spreading the word of their hate-march. In fact, if you look at the comments on their page, it’s almost universally negative. If I had to guess, it’s doubtful more than a handful of these hate-mongers are going to show up. If you want to tell these assholes how you feel, don’t be shy! They deserve to know what we think of them.

Woman shot over Pride Flag by Religious extremist

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Ignorance is tragedy, especially when it turns someone into a violent maniac. On Friday, August 18th, Laura Ann “Lauri” Carleton was shot and killed after an argument erupted with a customer at her store. The reason for the row? Laura had proudly displayed the pride flag outside of her shop, and this greatly angered Travis Ikeguchi, who decided that the way to resolve this dispute was to include Smith & Wesson into the mix. When the police arrived and demanded he drop his weapon, his 9mm handgun did the talking, and officers responded in kind.

All that remains of this sad, angry man are his hateful social media posts, which spoke predictably of the evils of abortion and homosexuality, care of his faith based upbringing. As for Laura, she was well loved in the community, so much so that film director Paul Fieg wrote about his loss.

“Our wonderful friend Lauri Carlton (seen in this picture) was murdered yesterday in her store @magpi_shop in Lake Arrowhead by a 27 year old man who didn’t like that she had a large pride flag hanging outside of her shop,” he wrote. “He ripped it down and when she confronted him about it he shot and killed her… Lauri Carleton was my friend. She was a wonderful person who did so much for the LGBTQ+ community as well as the community at large. What happened to her is an absolute tragedy. If people don’t think anti-gay & trans rhetoric isn’t dangerous, think again”

These are strong words, but they lack the fundamental element that allows this degree of hate to foment in the first place. You’ll find at the root cause is still religious organizations, and their murderous obsession with making the whole world fit into their narrow world view. It angers me still that everyone always fails to point out the gigantic elephant in the room.

Lamest Anti-Gay ad ever

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It’s getting increasingly difficult to find arguments against marriage equality, and as religious groups get more and more desperate, they continue to try to swing everyone’s opinion back to their homophobic camp.

The latest in this disaster porn is a group called Faith2Action, a typical ‘family values’ group that tries to hide their bigotry under the guise of their religion. They have a ton of videos about how the government is trying to make Christianity illegal by not allowing some of these douchebags to continue to discriminate against same-sex attraction for no other reason than “the Bible wants me to”.

I’ll let the video speak for itself: I don’t think I need to make fun of people this ridiculous, do I?

Marco Rubio doesn’t know what a bigot is

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Lying is thirsty work, don’t you know!

The problem with most bigots is they have no idea what being a bigot entails. When you’re spoon-fed a bunch of bullshit lies your entire life that one can ‘respect’ a human being while still denying them the same rights as you, you’re bound to be confused when everyone is constantly pointing out that the things you say and do are unacceptable. Man, that must get annoying, right?

Take dead-on-arrival presidential ‘candidate’ Marco Rubio’s recent statements to the press expressing his own frustration for being called out as the bigoted piece of shit he is:

I respect people who disagree with me on certain things, but that means they have to respect me too. Just because I believe states should have the right to define marriage in a traditional way does not make me a bigot. Just because we believe that life, all human life, all life, all human life is worthy of protection in every stage of its development doesn’t make you a chauvinist. In fact, the people who are actually close minded in American politics are people who love to preach about the certainty of science in regard to our climate, but ignore the absolute fact that life begins at conception.

There’s a lot to unpack in that one statement: his false equivalency of comparing climate science with anti-choice rhetoric notwithstanding, the notion that denying your fellow human beings the same rights as everyone is a pretty clear sign of bigotry. Just as denying women the right to terminate unwanted pregnancy because of your unscientific view of conception does make you a chauvinist, suddenly claiming climate scientists are close minded and pro-lifers are the open-minded bunch (you know, the same asshats who ‘respectfully’ bomb clinics because they think their imaginary friend wants them to) shows you just how profoundly out of touch with reality this man is. Of course, that’s become the Republican narrative as of late, and these people are still confused as to why the American public is rapidly abandoning them. You know, there was a time when Republicans used to listen to facts, before they started to get too unpleasant…

Rubio can try to use double-speak to his heart’s content: it doesn’t really matter. Just like being over-saturated with ads has made most Americans immune to their influence, the same inoculation is happening against this sort of language tricks. People are becoming tired of the same reality-denying narrative that out of touch, rich white men (and their occasional exotic pets) are trying to shove down our throats. We’re mad as hell, and we’re not going to take it anymore.

Pink Swastika author Scott Lively charged

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If you don’t know who Scott Lively is, he’s the monster who authored The Pink Swastika, a book I’ve derided in the past for its pseudo-historical claim that Nazis were a secret gay organization intent on destroying heterosexuality. It ranks about as high as The Protocols of the Elders of Zion in terms of historical verisimilitude.

In March of 2009, Scott and a posse of other Evangelical Christians traveled to Uganda, and gave a series a talks about ‘the gay agenda’. They covered the typical tropes, such as baseless accusations of gays sodomizing teenage boys, therapies to covert them back to being straight, and said gays had an evil social agenda. The conference was widely attended, and a few months later, helped inspire Uganda’s ‘Kill the Gays Bill’.

Since March 2012, a group called Sexual Minorities Uganda sued Lively under the Alien Tort Statute (which allows U.S. courts to hear human-rights cases brought by foreign citizens for conduct committed outside the United States) In this case, individuals claiming that Scott’s hateful rhetoric has caused the suffering and death of countless individuals. Pepe Julian Onziema, the Advocacy and Policy Officer at Sexual Minorities Uganda, had this to say:

Coming face to face with the man who has caused us so much pain is important to me. We want him held accountable for the escalating homophobia and persecution in Uganda. This case is about making it clear to people who have exported their hate agenda to Uganda that their actions have a very real effect on us and they must stop.

A federal judge is now reviewing his motion to dismiss the case.

While he claims he has only the best intentions for gays (believing they need to be cured of their condition), he continues to try and blame every conceivable calamity on them. He’s recently accused gays of causing the “great Flood that supposedly brought humanity once again to an evolutionary bottleneck no species could survive (it’s called “minimum viable population sizes, and trust me, that number isn’t 5 people), hinting another may come if we continue to give gays the same rights as everyone else.

So, is it hate speech or not?