I realize that it shouldn’t shock me that LGBTQ people are blamed for things that happen on the daily. After all, Pat Robertson has said that hurricanes are God’s way of trying to punish us. Weird belief when it seems to impact so many more than just LGBTQ people. As this pandemic seems to be running unchecked, because we as people can’t seem to do the small things to help mitigate the spread, we are finding more and more people who are now blaming LGBTQ people for the existence of Covid-19.

This blame isn’t recent, there is a story of how the Roman Christian Emperor Justinian, in the sixth century, published a code against same sex relations. This code went into detail about how men engaging in same sex relations were responsible for famines, earthquakes, and pestilence. It is no wonder heterosexual people fear us so much we can easily control nature, the world, and a host of germs and viruses.

There have been countries that have falsely claimed that the spread of Covid-19 is directly related to LGBTQ people. The United Nations AIDS group has seen a spike I LGBTQ people being harassed, incarcerated, and abused because of it. “We are receiving reports that government and religious leaders in some countries are making false claims and releasing misinformation about COVID-19 that has incited violence and discrimination against LGBTI [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex] people,” George Ayala, executive director of MPact, said in the press release. “Organizations and homes are being raided, LGBTI people are being beaten, and there has been an increase in arrests and threatened deportation of LGBTI asylum seekers.”

Four months into the coronavirus pandemic, South Korean news outlets were publishing the identities of gay men who have tested positive for corona. Where were the postings of heterosexual people who tested positive? Some of these claims started after a Christian paper cited that a few dozen new cases in Seoul were associated with nightclubs in Itaewon and were gay venues. The majority diagnosed were not gay men and not all of the nightclubs linked to the infection were gay venues. Instead, it was another method of gaslighting the masses to pass the blame on to others.

These are the types of reactions we saw when the AIDS epidemic was rising in infections. If you werent around then or not aware of the history, it was touted as the gay cancer or a gay plague. Since it was only being seen in gay men, at the time, it was just assumed to be a gay disease. A punishment from god for our heathen living. So, it should be no shock that, right now around the world, religious leaders are using us as a scapegoat again. In the Ukraine, back in March, Honorary Patriarch Filaret of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, one of the Ukraine’s most famous religious leaders, stated that same-sex marriage with the cause of the massive spread of Covid-19. He was quoted saying that the virus was “God’s punishment for the sins of men, the sinfulness of humanity, First of all, I mean same-sex marriage.” As if receiving retribution for his grievously dangerous statements, Filaret was diagnosed in September with Covid-19. Is he trying to tell us that he is being punished for being a part of same-sex marriage?

” God’s love shows it is urgent to repent, because the Bible teaches homosexuals lose their souls and God destroys LGBT societies.”

In April, the Muslim Misson of Ghana stated that “it is important for us to acknowledge our sins against the world, especially the most abominable acts such as homosexuality, lesbianism, transgender, destruction of water bodies and forests.” It is nice to know that hatred of who we are and how we live is parallel to the destruction of Earth’s natural resources. India has seen an influx of posters claiming that if anyone talk to a transgender person will catch Corona. It is easy to say “well that’s in those countries over there, it’s not how we feel in American.” Isn’t it, though? Pastor Steven Andrew of the USA Christian Church said in a press release that ” God’s love shows it is urgent to repent, because the Bible teaches homosexuals lose their souls and God destroys LGBT societies.” I admit that I am not on a first name basis with God or the Bible, but being raised southern, I was taught the Bible and I don’t remember anywhere in the Bible of God destroying LGBT societies. Oh way, they must be referring to Sodom and Gomorrah. The reason for the supposed destruction of two cities in a book is still heavily contested. There is no evidence that states clearly that either Sodom and Gomorrah were razed for homosexuality. It does state that they were destroyed for their sins, haughtiness, egoism and attempts at rape. Okay, fine, the word Sodom is the basis for the term used to describe anal and or oral sex, sodomy. It is also what gay men were called, sodomites. The irony in that word is that it is all inclusive to anyone who practices sodomy. I am pretty sure there are large numbers of heterosexual people who practice sodomy, regularly. Could not Sodom and Gomorrah have been destroyed due to their “immoral” copulations?

This is more of the same. People who feel they have the power to share what is and is not considered against a religion or creed. The uneducated masses blame those they do not understand and therefore disagree with for every bad thing that happens in their world. Since so many of us already have hard times coming to terms with who we are, these words can be especially dangerous. We must keep our heads high and not fall to the words of those who are so easily led by people who have no moral compass, true intellect, or love for their fellow man. If you need to hear it from someone, we did not cause and do not perpetuate the spread of Coronavirus. After all, we canceled our Prides to ensure we were not putting our LGBTQ families at risk.