On May 3, 2021, the right-wing pastor and televangelist Andrew Wommack made horrible anti-LGBTQ+ comments on his podcast alongside his guest, anti-LGBTQ+ religious-right activist, Janet Porter. He said that gay people should wear labels on their foreheads as a warning sign because their sexuality could be "hazardous" to health.
Andrew Wommack Says Gay People Should Have to Wear Warning Labels on Their Foreheads from Right Wing Watch on Vimeo.
Wommack is well-known for his anti-LGBTQ+ rants and is the founder of Andrew Wommack Ministries and Charis Bible College. He also hosts regular Gospel Truth television and radio shows.
The most recent comments he made were on his "Truth & Liberty Livecast." His guest, Janet Porter, brought up Caitlyn Jenner and deadnamed her, saying that she was "praying against the suicide that happens with people that engage in this kind of thing. It's very, very sad."
"Homosexuals have like three times as much suicide as heterosexuals," Wommack said in response, "and then you go into transgender, and it just continues to go up; it's a very destructive lifestyle…20 years less that the homosexual lives than a heterosexual."
He then compared homosexuality to cigarettes, saying they only take an average of seven years off of someone's life, he also added, "So homosexuality is three times worse than smoking… We oughta put a label across their forehead: This could be hazardous to your health."
Suicide rates in the LGBTQ+ community being higher has nothing to do with Wommack's ramblings but is related to the level of support in people's lives. A Trevor Project study on LGBTQ+ youth found that youth with access to affirming spaces are less likely to attempt suicide while discrimination makes them more likely.
Wommack has previously declared support for Uganda's "Kill the Gays" Bill and has also called conversion therapy bans are part of an anti-Christ plot to destroy morality.
In March 2021, Wommack has also said that people supporting trans rights activism follow the "doctrine of the devil."
