President Donald Trump and his allies have promoted a video featuring Dr. Stella Immanuel, who made false claims regarding the coronavirus. Immanuel has a history of anti-LGBTQ remarks, including claiming that homosexuality is the “agenda of the Devil” and is “perverted, vile behavior that is being taught to our children.”
On July 27, a group called America’s Frontline Doctors held a press conference that featured false information regarding hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus “cure” and the supposed inefficacy of face masks. Video from the event, which originated from Breitbart, went viral on social media sites, which have frequently been a source of coronavirus misinformation. Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and others promoted video of Immanuel speaking.
Immanuel, who is also a minister, has previously made bizarre and fringe comments about numerous topics. The Daily Beast’s Will Sommer reported today: “She has often claimed that gynecological problems like cysts and endometriosis are in fact caused by people having sex in their dreams with demons and witches. She alleges alien DNA is currently used in medical treatments, and that scientists are cooking up a vaccine to prevent people from being religious. And, despite appearing in Washington, D.C. to lobby Congress on Monday, she has said that the government is run in part not by humans but by 'reptilians' and other aliens.”
Sommer noted that “Immanuel has also used her pulpit to preach hatred of LGBT people. Shortly before before the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage, Immanuel warned her flock that gay marriage meant that ‘very soon people are going to be seeking to marry children’ and accused gay Americans of practicing ‘homosexual terrorism.’ In the same sermon, she praised a father’s decision to not love his transgender son after a gender transition.”
Immanuel has a long history of anti-LGBTQ remarks. In her 2012 book Jesus Help The Church Has Been Caged, Immanuel told readers, “We are now teaching tolerance to something as vile as homosexuality – even to our grade-school children. This demon has been released to infect our generation.”
We are now teaching tolerance to something as vile as homosexuality – even to our grade-school children. This demon has been released to infect our generation. No matter what is said or claimed, most homosexuals are not happy, because there is something programmed in us by Jehovah God himself that makes us inherently know good from evil. This demon will not give peace, that’s why there is so much drug addiction and suicide in the gay community. It’s an antiGod, anti-procreation agenda of the Devil, and we have glamorized it. Now when we do evil, we find a way to make it acceptable. So, the majority have been pushed in the closet while we put up with the blatant display of perverted, vile behavior that is being taught to our children. Instead of the church gathering fire to help these poor souls get delivered, they have been accepted and given free rein in the church. The infestation is increasing because these people release these spirits in the church and in our schools to infect others. You cannot love, counsel or drug a demon. We have been caged!
In her 2010 book The Proverbs 31: Man, she wrote, “A lot of people have resolved to other unbiblical options like, fornication, masturbation, homosexuality, to make do in the chaos caused by loneliness.”
The website for Immanuel’s Fire Power Ministries states in its beliefs section: “Biblical marriage is a covenant between one man and one woman. We do not believe the Bible condones any other arrangement that violates this definition such as unmarried couples living together, homosexuality, bestiality, polygamy, etc.” Her organization also features a section titled “Deliverance Prayer against Homosexuality and Sexual Perversion.”
The Facebook page for Fire Power Ministries contains anti-LGBTQ posts. In October 2018, the ministries and Immanuel forwarded a message stating of anti-Trump efforts: “Who are the people behind this plot? It is the gay, the lesbians, the members of the new world order, the Illuminati together with IGNORANT Christians, but MASTERMINDED by Satan.” (The New World Order and the Illuminati are sources of countless conspiracy theories.) In December 2016, she wrote that “having a homosexual desire and resisting it does not take you to hell but practicing and celebrating it will take you to hell just like practicing and celebrating fornication lying etc.”
She has also promoted reparative or conversion therapy, which is a dangerous and ineffective practice that seeks to turn LGBTQ people straight. The American Psychological Association has stated that “there is no published scientific evidence supporting the efficacy of ‘reparative therapy’ as a treatment to change one’s sexual orientation” and that risks include “depression, anxiety, and self-destructive behavior, since therapist alignment with societal prejudices against homosexuality may reinforce self-hatred already experienced by the patient.”
Immanuel wrote a “Ten Point plan to disciple America back to God,” which includes “rais[ing] deliverance ministers, counsellors and prayer support for those that want to come out of the gay life style and for Christians struggling with sexual immorality.”
