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Ireland Bans Anti-LGBTQ Preacher Steve Anderson

by Kilian Melloy

EDGE Staff Reporter

Monday May 13, 2019

The Emerald Isle has not only refused to roll out the red carpet for an American Baptist preacher who has called for gays to be murdered, but slammed the door in his face to boot, the BBC reports.

Ireland's refusal to allow Steven Anderson to enter the country marked a first, reported Independent.ie: Anderson is the first person to be barred from the country. The refusal to grant him entry for a planned speaking engagement in Dublin is the first time that Ireland has exercised a 20-year-old law that provides for such denial of entry.

Independent.ie reported that the "exclusions order" banning Anderson from Ireland was signed by "The Minister for Justice and Equality, Charlie Flanagan," who said that he had signed the order "under my executive powers in the interests of public policy."

Ireland joins a roster of about thirty other countries that have let it be known they are not interested in importing Anderson's brand of hate. Among the nations to have found Anderson's rhetoric and homophobia too much for them: Botswana, Malawi, and even famously anti-gay Jamaica.

Earlier this month The Netherlands announced that Anderson would not be allowed to enter that nation, either.

Independent.ie took note of some of the titles and themes of Anderson's sermons, which include "The Homo Agenda vs. Reality" and "Iceland: A Nation of Bastards." The article also referenced a sermon, available on YouTube, in which Anderson calls for gay people to be exterminated in order to secure "an AIDS-free world" (though it's unclear how Anderson would advise health experts to approach the epidemic in Africa, where the disease has ravaged the heterosexual population). Anderson is infamous for, among other things, praying that former U.S. President Barack Obama would die, and saying that the victims of the Pulse nightclub massacre "deserved to die" because they were gay.

The Irish ban followed a Change.org petition that took note of Anderson's denial of the Holocaust and violent anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. More than 14,000 people signed the petition, Independent.ie said.

LGBT Ireland hailed Anderson's ban and tweeted out a thanks for Flanagan.

Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.