Far-right, evangelical radio host Bryan Fischer took to Twitter on Sunday morning to deliver his latest bizarre, anti-gay sentiments — this time, that “LGBTs stole the rainbow from God.”
“Worst example of cultural appropriation ever: LGBTs stole the rainbow from God,” Fischer tweeted. “It’s his. He invented it. Gen. 9:11-17. Give it back.”
Genesis 9 refers to the chapter in the Bible that God summons a flood to destroy Earth and all of its inhabitants — save Noah’s family — after it becomes overrun with sin.
Worst example of cultural appropriation ever: LGBTs stole the rainbow from God. It's his. He invented it. Gen. 9:11-17. Give it back.
— Rev. Bryan Fischer – Host, Bryan Fischer Podcast (@BryanJFischer) April 2, 2017
Fischer seems to think the pride flag is a form of cultural appropriation, despite how the phrase actually refers to more privileged groups of people co-opting pieces of a less privileged group’s culture and profiting or benefiting from this.
For starters, the main issue with Fischer’s claim, which many members of the Twitter community have been quick to point out, is that rainbows weren’t invented by the Christian community just because their God makes a rainbow in a Bible verse. Rainbows are, as author Nate Bethea pointed out on Sunday, a product of nature — to be precise, “the light retracted through water vapor.”
https://twitter.com/inthesedeserts/status/848597248615251972?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-1477203505691175491.ampproject.net%2F1490899213109%2Fframe.html
To claim that the LGBTQ community “stole the rainbow from God” isn’t just a statement of gross intolerance, it’s also a statement of ignorance that, as many far-right evangelicals like Fischer do, undermines basic natural science.
And of course, the Twitter trolling only escalated from there.
The gay people are playing keep away from bryan fischer with the gay flag and he's crying and begging to get it back
— Fuckwinds (@keldeoscope) April 2, 2017
please donate to Bryan Fischer's GoFundMe to get god his rainbow back
— Alex Kotch (@alexkotch) April 2, 2017
https://twitter.com/jtylerconway/status/848618114925420544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-1477203505691175491.ampproject.net%2F1490899213109%2Fframe.html
https://twitter.com/teaforpterosaur/status/848607253192200193
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Fischer has a long history of baseless and puzzling attacks on the LGBTQ community, from blaming the rise of Adolf Hitler on homosexuality, to alleging that gay people were responsible for the most hate crimes in the United States, to minimizing the consequences of HIV/AIDS. His claim that gay people have stolen the rainbow may be one of his oddest, but it certainly isn’t his most bigoted.
Featured image via screen grab
