It’s been fascinating listening to anti-LGBTQ Christians flip out over the popularity of Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg. They act like he would get gay cooties all over the Oval Office if he won the election, while trapping the nation under the spell of his rainbow wand.

The latest bigot to speak out is Peter LaBarbera of the group Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, which exists to spread lies about homosexuality. He was on VCY America’s “Crosstalk” program Wednesday and made the argument that a Buttigieg victory would be a loss for Christians.

“The question is: Is America so far gone morally and spiritually that we would elect a person who brazenly and openly defies God?” LaBarbera asked. “Declares himself not just homosexual, but preaches on scripture as a member of the religious left, openly so-called gay, talking about his husband … His open homosexuality is very important because were Pete Buttigieg to rise to vice president or president, it becomes a very bad role model and lesson for America’s children. They will be indoctrinated even further into thinking that it’s acceptable, normal, and OK that instead of having a First Lady or a Second Lady, we would have a, I suppose, a First Husband for a man. Imagine what we’re teaching our children. Is America that far gone?” “This is a whole new level,” he added. “Anybody who disagreed with that would be labeled a bigot and a homophobe and all the names they come out with.” “We’ll be hated,” LaBarbera warned, as he complained that people are blindly accepting the idea that Buttigieg is legitimately married. “They are allowing the language to be corrupted, to apply sexual deviance to the same language as a normal marriage. I think if Christians speak out against that and say, ‘No,’ and they refuse to say that somebody like Pete Buttigieg is truly married before God, they will be hated.”

Spoiler: They’re hated now, and it’s not because they’re Christian. It’s because they’ve decided that homosexuality is somehow a “sin,” worse than all other “sins,” no matter what science or LGBTQ people say. It’s literally prejudice. Just because they’ve convinced themselves this is the biblically accurate take doesn’t mean they’re right; it just means they can’t be convinced of their errors. And the consequences of that Bible-based bigotry is that they are always trying to restrict the rights of other people.

The good news for LaBarbera is that LGBTQ people aren’t as hateful as he is. If they were in power, they would never do to him what he wants to do to them. While we can and should treat people with his views with utter contempt, no one is actually taking away his right to speak. What he’s upset about is that we may soon live in a country where he has to face the consequences of his hate speech.

Too damn bad. That’s not the fault of Buttigieg or progressives or atheists or anyone else. The blame is all his own. All we’ve ever done is repeat his words to a wider audience so everyone can hear for themselves what Christian bigotry sounds like.

(Screenshot via YouTube)

