13 unbelievable things LGBT people have been blamed for

LGBT people are often unfairly blamed for a lot of the world’s events, but some of these are slightly more ‘out there’ than most.

PinkNews brings you a list of 13 of the most unbelievable things that LGBT people have been blamed for over the years.

1. Low school grades

The host of a US radio programme claimed that LGBT inclusive education programs were to blame for a decline in grade averages.

In 2013, Sandy Rios of the American Family Association read an email on air that said the skills of reading and writing were being “pushed aside in favour of teaching moral choices and left-wing agenda” and that schools.

Rios continued to say that rather than teaching maths and science, schools were: “teaching radical environmentalism or homosexuality… that’s the reason our test scores are so shockingly low compared with the world.”

2. Earthquakes

Every time there’s a natural disaster, someone eventually comes out of the woodwork to blame LGBT people, as if homophobes are all amateur meteorologists.

In 2016, a New Zealand pastor blamed homosexuality for a spate of earthquakes that had tormented the country.

During a sermon, Brian Tamaki said that the earth “convulses under the weight of certain human sin.” He later referenced a series of earthquakes, including the 2011 Christchurch earthquake that killed 185 people.

Tamaki said: “You could have just about predicted that one…There were churches there that weren’t churches. They were actively involved in homosexual practice, homosexual priests.”

An Italian priest made similar claims last year, claiming the multiple earthquakes that hit Italy were God’s reaction to the newly instated marriage equality laws.

3. Rachel Dolezal

Fox News ‘psychiatrist’ Keith Ablow blamed transgender people for the existence of a white woman who pretended to be black, saying that there was little difference between being transgender and the case of Rachel Dolezal.

The family of Ms Dolezal revealed that she is actually white, despite claiming to be black and working as an African Studies professor.

Although he said not to judge those in a “transgender position,” Ablow claimed that there was no discernable difference when people “decide that a genetic reality is not a reality.”

Ms Dolezal has made similar comparisons, stating her upset that people have accepted Caitlyn Jenner as trans but still refuse to accept her. 

4. Floods

Early in 2017, right wing commentators blamed transgender people for a dam breach and flood in California.

Breitbart writer Katy Grimes was one of the most vocal critics, blaming “transgender bathrooms” and “sex change operations” for the flood.

In 2014, a UKIP councillor claimed former Prime Minister David Cameron ignored his warnings that allowing same-sex marriage would result in floods.

Writing in his local paper, David Silvester wrote: “One recent [flood] caused the worst flooding for 60 years. The Christmas floods were the worst for 127 years.

“Is this just global warming or is there something more serious at work?”

It’s probably global warming.

5. The fall of Rome

A leading but highly controversial Italian academic resigned after he blamed the fall of the Roman empire on homosexuality.

Professor Roberto De Mattei made the comments in 2011 when he said: ”The collapse of the Roman Empire and the arrival of the Barbarians was due to the spread of homosexuality.

“The Roman colony of Carthage was a paradise for homosexuals … the abnormal presence of a few deviants infected many others.”

Due to the backlash from this statement, Professor De Mattei resigned from his position as the Vice-President of the National Research Council of Italy.

6. The Financial Crisis

US Christian radio host Bryan Fischer made a series of controversial remarks blaming a ‘pro-sodomy Gestapo’ for the 2008 financial crisis. 

Weighing in on an academic’s since retracted remarks about economist John Maynard Keynes’s bisexuality, Fischer claimed that it was correct that the original remark: “pins the full weight of the financial crisis on the gay community.”

Failed Presidential nominee Rick Santorum has made similar claims, saying: “When we continue to see a decline in marriage and the redefinition of marriage.

“You get families that aren’t as strong, and as a result, society generally – the economy – suffers.”

7. A super-mouse infestation

In 2013, health inspectors discovered a “supermouse” in a Covent Garden branch of Tesco Metro.

Rather than being a new supermarket-based superhero, the mouse had grown far larger than normal due to its diet of chicken and cakes.

However, advocacy group Christian Voice told PinkNews that the infestation was due to Tesco’s support of LGBT rights.

Christian Voice’s national director Stephen Green said to PinkNews: “Any company which announces its support for gay pride six weeks before Christmas obviously can’t operate basic pest control.”

8. Hurricanes

Right on time, a Texas pastor blamed the recent Hurricane Harvey on Texas’ failure to enact a transphobic ‘bathroom bill’ in the state.

Additionally, right wing commentator Ann Coulter echoed this statement in a tweet saying: “I don’t believe Hurricane Harvey is God’s punishment for Houston electing a lesbian mayor. But that is more credible than ‘climate change’.”

Oh boy.

Similar ideas were peddled after Hurricane Katrina.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, fundamentalist group Repent America referenced the city’s Southern Decadence LGBT festival and said: “New Orleans was a city that had its doors wide open to the public celebration of sin.”