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Botswana to deport American hate pastor banned from South Africa

Botswana to deport American hate pastor banned from South Africa
Pastor Steven Anderson

Botswana’s government says it is deporting an American pastor who has made anti-gay comments.

Neighboring South Africa earlier this month prevented the entry of Steven Anderson of the Faithful Word Baptist Church of Tempe, Arizona, saying he and church members allegedly promote hate speech and “social violence.”

The tweet by Botswana’s government on Tuesday says Anderson “has been declared a prohibited immigrant” but does not give details.

Activists had said they were campaigning against the Botswana visit after urging South Africa’s government to bar the entry of Anderson.

After his South Africa ban, Anderson posted on Facebook: “Thank God we still have a wide open door in Botswana.”

Anderson also said he had been banned from traveling to the United Kingdom while traveling to the African nation.

“They tell me that the United Kingdom has banned me from entering the country and that I can’t even have a connecting flight in London,” he said in a video from the airport. “Not only am I banned from the UK, but I can’t even go to the London airport.”

While Anderson has regularly been featured on LGBT blogs for his outrageous and offensive statements about LGBT people, he hit the national limelight for celebrating the deaths of the victims of a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando earlier this year.

“The good news is that there’s 50 less pedophiles in this world, because, you know, these homosexuals are a bunch of disgusting perverts and pedophiles,” Anderson said at the time.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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