LGBTQ hating “Make America Straight Again” conference to convene in Orlando

Just three days after the third anniversary of the Pulse nightclub massacre, Orlando’s citizens will have to endure a “Make American Straight Again” conference featuring anti-LGBTQ ministers from across the country.

The conference, scheduled for June 14, 15 and 16, is hosted by Revival Baptist Church and its pastor Patrick Boyle. In an introductory YouTube video, Boyle says, “We’ve chosen this week and time because it is their gay pride week.”

In fact, Orlando’s LGBTQ Pride festival is in October; but this conference is during Pride Month and ends the week when Orlando and people around the world remembered the Pulse massacre, which killed 49 people at the LGBTQ nightclub. Many of those killed were Latinx as well as LGBTQ.

“They [LGBTQ people] will be out and proud of who they are and daring someone to say something,” Boyle said, “and we’re going to go ahead and take them up on it. This conference is going to be explaining our view, or rather God’s view, on it.

"They are beyond reach, the Sodomites," Boyle continued. "We are not trying to reach them. We are trying to warn society that if we embrace that, you are going to lose your children ... The schools are telling them it's an alternative lifestyle choice.

"So it's interesting! They are going to be out there protesting love, love, love — yet if we can make a compilation of the voicemails from these crowds, it's all but love ... They hate us, and I don’t have any qualms with saying I hate them."

Boyle has invited rabidly anti-LGBTQ ministers to speak at the conference. They include Steven Anderson, from Phoenix. He is a Holocaust denier who praised the Pulse nightclub shooter, calling victims “a bunch of disgusting perverts and pedophiles” and “disgusting homosexuals who the Bible says were worthy of death.”

Anderson has been banned from speaking in many countries in Europe because of his extreme homophobic sermons. Jamaica, South Africa, the UK, and Canada have also banned him from entry.

The YouTube video, after featuring Boyle and Anderson making their homophobic comments, included clips of other conference speakers “shouting hateful things from pulpits,” according to The Advocate.

“Pastor Roger Jimenez of Verity Baptist Church calls gay sex ‘unnatural’ and ‘not normal.’ Jimenez made headlines in 2016 for saying the Pulse shooter didn’t kill enough gays. ‘Are you sad that 50 pedophiles were killed today?’ he said in a sermon after the shooting. ‘Um, no, I think that’s great! I think that helps society. I think Orlando, Fla., is a little safer tonight,’” Advocate noted.

Tommy McMurtry, another speaker, is featured in a YouTube video on a channel named “Let God Burn Tem Quickly!” (Get it? LGBTQ!) He is recorded saying he hoped for protesters and violence at the MASA conference, giving conference goers the opportunity to kill people while hiding behind Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law.

McMurtry said, “Pray that if they do any protests that it gets violent … they have Stand Your Ground in Florida”

Conference organizers asked the county Sheriff if they could hire off-duty officers to provide security. The Sheriff refused.

In a statement to Orlando’s WFTV, the Sheriff’s office said, “We have a process in place for reviewing and approving, or rejecting, each request for security details that the agency receives. The request for Revival Baptist Church to hire our deputies to work for them during their event was declined for a couple of reasons.

“First, it appears as though the conference disparages homosexuals and will be targeting them during the group’s conference this week.

“Furthermore, the fact that the timing of this conference coincides with the three-year anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting in nearby Orlando did not go unnoticed by our staff. We felt as though the timing of the conference is in poor taste and we chose not to allow the group to hire our deputies.

“We are, however, aware of the potential for protests and are currently discussing the possibility of an increased presence in general for the event in order to ensure everything remains peaceful.”

The conference organizers are so afraid of backlash from the community that they are not announcing the conference location until Friday.

Copyright The Gayly – June 13, 2019 @ 3:40 p.m. CDT.