Pat Robertson, Who Once Claimed Gays Spread AIDS Using Secret ‘Rings’, Dies At 93
Pat Robertson, Who Once Claimed Gays Spread AIDS Using ‘Secret Rings’, Dies At 93 Notorious anti-LGBTQ+ TV preacher Pat Robertson has died.
He was 93. The son of a U.S. senator, Robertson initially made his name in broadcasting as the host of “The 700 Club,” which became the flagship of his Christian Broadcasting Network.
Robertson, who ran for president in 1988, spent decades peddling dangerous lies attacking the LGBTQ+ community. He would often attribute natural disasters to the supposed moral failings of those who suffered them.
After the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, Robertson said he agreed with Rev. Jerry Falwell blaming the attacks on “the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians.” In 1998, Robertson warned Disney World and the city of Orlando, Fla., that flying rainbow flags could lead to “earthquakes, tornadoes and possibly a meteor.” In 2013, the televangelist claimed on air that gay people in San Francisco use rigged rings to try and give people AIDS when they shake hands.
