Here Are 15 Of The Dumbest Things Said About The Queer Community In 2015

:: shaking our heads ::

2015 was, without a doubt, a banner year for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

From the national legalization of same-sex marriage to the transgender community gaining some long-overdue exposure in mainstream pop culture, the milestones are numerous. However, that doesn't mean that the year was devoid of cringe-worthy moments. From reality television stars to televangelists to right-wing politicians, a number of anti-queer public figures certainly tried their hardest to work against our movement.

Let's take a look back at 15 of the dumbest things said about the queer community in 2015. Some are so stupid, you may even have a chuckle!

Because of gay marriage, people will soon want to marry their lawnmowers
Billy Currie Photography via Getty Images
Now that same-sex couples can tie the knot, Iowa Rep. Steve King thinks we'll be seeing people wanting to marry their lawnmowers.

Citing an unnamed Christian lawyer who reportedly told him that only "one human" is needed for a marriage now, King wrote, "you could marry your lawnmower with this decision," and argued that "children do better in a home with a mom and a dad."
Same-sex marriage will lead to "love affairs between men and animals."
Arguing that Supreme Court's June 26 ruling used "faulty sociological grounds," conservative televangelist Pat Robertson said, "Watch what happens, love affairs between men and animals are going to be absolutely permitted. Polygamy, without question, is going to be permitted, and it will be called a right."
Same-sex attraction is like eating doughnuts
Bruce Law via Getty Images
TLC's controversial special, "My Husband's Not Gay," profiled Jeff, a Mormon man who said he'd chosen to marry a woman, Tanya, despite being attracted to other men.

In an ABC News interview that aired before the program, Jeff defended his decision to be married to Tanya instead of another man using a bizarre -- and offensive -- analogy.

"I love doughnuts," Jeff explained. "So you could say I am oriented toward doughnuts, and if I was being true to myself, I would eat donuts a lot more than I eat doughnuts ... [but] am I denying myself because I don't eat doughnuts as much as I might like to eat doughnuts? I'm not."
California's drought is the result of marriage equality, LGBT rights
Mike Blake / Reuters
If one conservative political reporter is to be believed, the devastating drought in California may have something to do with the state's support of same-sex marriage and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights.

In May, Bill Koenig of World Watch Daily, a "biblically relevant" news site that focuses on Israel, the Middle East and the White House, suggested the Golden State's ongoing, four-year drought is just one example of how America is living in an "unchartered" time and a period of divine "judgment" from God.

"We've got a state that, over and over again, will go against the word of God, that will continually take positions on marriage and abortion and on a lot of things that are just completely opposed to the Scriptures," he said. "So there very likely could be a drought component to this judgment."
Pastor warns of a "sodomite demon," contracted through kissing, sex
In July, James David Manning of ATLAH World Missionary Church warned heterosexual women about a "sodomite demon," which can be contracted through sexual intercourse with men who have had sex with other men.

"If a man injects himself in another man and injects his semen into him, and he's crazy, then that's gonna get in his blood as well," Manning told viewers on his "Manning Report" YouTube program. Describing a man's semen as the "cream of the blood" that is "even more powerful than blood," he added, "If demons are in him... you're gonna get penetrated by demons."
Baltimore protests are the result of same-sex marriage
Sait Serkan Gurbuz / Reuters
In April, Texas Rep. Bill Flores made a bizarre link between same-sex marriage rights and this year's civil unrest in Baltimore, Maryland, arguing that "breakdown of the family" has contributed to income disparity across the country.

"Look at what is going on in Baltimore today," the Republican congressman said. "You see the issues that are raised there. Healthy marriages are the ones between a man and a woman because they can have a healthy family and they can raise children in a way that’s best for their future, not only socially but psychologically, economically, from a health perspective."
Gay "X-Men" character will "indoctrinate" youth
Lawrence K. Ho via Getty Images
Evangelist Franklin Graham blasted Marvel Comics after iconic "X-Men" character Iceman was revealed to be a gay man in April, arguing that it was "another attempt to indoctrinate our young people to accept this destructive lifestyle."

"God’s Word says homosexuality is a sin, and we are to be on guard against all sin," he wrote. "God calls us to repent, turn from our sins, and put our trust in His Son Jesus Christ who died and rose again to pay the penalty for sin."
Parents should drown themselves instead of letting kids read "Harry Potter"
In November, Pastor Kevin Swanson blastedHarry Potter, and his opposition to J.K Rowling's iconic series stemmed from the author's revelation that she always thought of Dumbledore the wizard as a gay man.

"America, repent that Dumbledore emerged as a homosexual mentor for Harry Potter, that Hiccup’s mentor in ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ emerged as a homosexual himself in order that history might repeat itself one more time," he said.
Gay people should be put on an island to see if they die out
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) took his opposition to same-sex marriage to an entirely new level during a speech at Virginia's Liberty University in November.

"How about if we take four heterosexual couples, and put them on an island where they have everything they need to live and exist, and we take four couples of just men and put them on an island where they have all they need to survive," he said. "And then let's take four couples of just women and put them on an island, and then let's come back in 100 years and see which one nature favors."
The word "garriage" should be used for "gay marriage"
Pat Fagan, who is the director of the Family Research Council's Marriage and Religion Research Institute, would like marriages between two men referred to as "garriage," and those between two women "larriage." He also has an idea for a term to refer to both gay and lesbian unions.
There aren't enough places for anti-gay people to shop anymore
BEN STANSALL via Getty Images
Mission: America's Linda Harvey, whose opposition to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community is well-established, argued that the number of "family-friendly, Christian-affirming" shops and restaurants she'll allow herself to frequent during the holiday shopping season is "growing shorter all the time."

Think about the grave harm homosexuality is doing to American culture, to our schools, to our freedoms, to our churches," she wrote. "Let’s do what we can to honor the standards of Christ during the celebration of His birthday."
Anti-gay bigotry should be blamed on Muslims
George Gojkovich via Getty Images
In May, Rush Limbaugh had some eyebrow-raising advice for businesses who want to deny services to same-sex couples: blame Muslims.

"I pointed out the other day, well, then should we maybe stop flouting and flaunting gay marriage, because gay marriage is really disapproved in Islam," Limbaugh said. "Gay marriage, homosexual behavior is not tolerated, it is not permitted and it is punished severely when it is caught, when it's spied. And yet in American media all over the place we are celebrating gay marriage, we are flaunting gay marriage, and I ask, does this not also offend Muslims?"
Pat Robertson blames the gays for the U.S. stock market plunge
In September, repeat offender Pat Robertson suggested that recent turmoil in the stock market was somehow tied to same-sex marriage.

"Our finances right now are hanging by a thread," he said. "The rupture of the entire financial framework of our world is so tenuous right now. If there was ever a time that we need the grace of God, it is now, and unless something is done to change the courts and to change the way this country is going, it is just a question of time before the fabric ruptures and we’ll all suffer because of it."
People are "born" homophoboic
Bryan Fischer adopted Lady Gaga's pro-equality mantra and twisted its message for his own, anti-gay argument.

"Who would choose, at this time in our nation's history, to be a Christian? You're ridiculed. You're mocked. You're made fun of," the conservative host and former Director of Issues Analysis at the American Family Association said said. Citing what he described as an "inner revulsion" to homosexuality, he added, "So our defense is, hey, I was born that way."
Woman sues all gay people on God's behalf
Chris Ryan via Getty Images
Identifying herself as an ambassador for God and Jesus Christ, a Nebraska woman filed a federal lawsuit against all homosexual people on the planet for breaking “religious and moral laws” in May.

In a seven-page, handwritten petition, Sylvia Ann Driskell argued that “homosexuality is a sin and that the homosexuals know it is a sin to live a life of homosexuality."

She then added, “Why else would they have been hiding in the closet(?)”

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