Extreme anti-LGBTQ preacher Jonathan Shelley of the Stedfast Baptist Church in Watauga, Texas now claims to know something that gay men don’t: their intestines will fall out as a result of anal sex.
Shelley, whose church is a part of the New Independent Fundamentalist Baptist movement, delivered a sermon entitled “Why is someone a homosexual?” this past weekend. The sermon has since been removed from YouTube, but not before writer Hemant Mehta caught highlights.
“What men do with men is defiling their body, hurting their body, they’re hurting each other,” Shelley said. “They’re causing themselves all kinds of problems. Their intestines will sometimes just fall out because of the actions that they do.”
To express how disgusted he is with the thought of gay sex, Shelley compared it to eating Indian food.
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“Pastor Shelly, you’re gonna have to eat Indian food and ranch dressing every day of your life, or do that one time?” he said, referring to sex with other men. “It’s like, bring on the Indian food.”
“What if you, what if you, Pastor Shelley, what if you had to eat Indian food and ranch and then vomit it up and then eat it again, or do that one time? It’s like, bring on the vomit.”
Shelley answered his original question two ways at least, saying that gay men become gay because they “hate God” and because they were molested as children, which is false.
“They think, ‘OK, this is what caused me, I want other people to be like me,’ so then what do they do in an effort to reproduce is they recruit through child molestation and they prey on children,” he said.
Shelley then stressed to his flock that it’s “impossible” for him to be gay because he “got saved.”
In a sermon now removed from YouTube, Christian hate-preacher Jonathan Shelley asked "Why is someone a homosexual?"
His response was a litany of bigotry and lies, including the statement that "their intestines will sometimes just fall out because of the actions that they do." pic.twitter.com/r4738F2yBS
— Hemant Mehta (@hemantmehta) October 18, 2022
Shelley’s rhetoric about gay people “reproducing” through molesting children mirrors the uptick in conservatives generally accusing LGBTQ people of “grooming” children this past year. Grooming is a word that describes how child molesters gain the trust of their victims and keep them silent.
Rightwing media personalities have argued that discussing LGBTQ people in front of children is a form of “grooming” them. Those on the right – including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) – have also insisted that schools are trying to turn kids transgender behind their parents’ backs by “grooming” them. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) went so far as to say earlier this year that she thinks Democrats “want to turn your kids gay.”
Shelley’s specific mention of vomiting echoes a sermon from Arizona hate preacher and New Independent Fundamentalist Baptist movement founder Steven Anderson earlier this month, where he also said he would rather eat his own vomit than be gay. Anderson acted out throwing up in front of his congregation so show how serious he is.
“I would rather eat my own vomit out of a bowl with a spoon every day for the rest of my life until I’m 100 years old than to engage in what they do one single time,” Anderson preached, and then he pretended to throw up and eat his own vomit with a spoon.
Christian hate-preacher Steven Anderson says he'd rather eat his own vomit "out of a bowl with a spoon every day for the rest of my life until I'm 100" than do anything gay. pic.twitter.com/BakmAjBRDd
— Hemant Mehta (@hemantmehta) October 12, 2022
The Southern Poverty Law Center considers the Stedfast Baptist Church an anti-LGBTQ hate group. It’s part of the New Independent Fundamental Baptist Movement, which includes Steven Anderson’s Faithful Word Baptist Church.
Shelley has declared that gay men are all pedophiles and once celebrated the death of a 75-year-old gay man. Jim Fahy, a member of the Fort Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus, was killed when a driver accidentally drove into the Wilton Manors Pride Parade.
“And, you know, it’s great when trucks accidentally go through those, you know, parades,” Pastor Shelley said about the tragedy. “I think only one person died. So hopefully we can hope for more in the future.”
“You say, ‘Well, that’s mean.’ Yeah, but the Bible says that they’re worthy of death!” he continued. “They say, ‘Are you sad when fags die?’ No. I think it’s great! I hope they all die! I would love it if every fag would die right now.”
“And you say, ‘Well, I don’t think that’s what you really mean.’ That’s exactly what I mean. I really mean it!”
Earlier this year, he told the Arlington, Texas city council that gay people should be executed as some people in the audience shouted “Amen” and “Yup.”
“According to God we should hate Pride, not celebrate it,” he said. “God has already ruled that murder, adultery, witchcraft, rape, bestiality, and homosexuality are crimes worthy of capital punishment.”
