Televangelist Pat Robertson claims gay men in San Francisco
deliberately spread HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, with special
rings that cut others when shaking hands.
A 700 Club viewer asked whether it was wrong for her church
not to inform her that she was driving to worship services a man
who is “dying of AIDS.” Robertson told the woman she would be
fine provided she didn't “have sex with them,” then added,
“unless there's a cut or some bodily fluid transmission.”
“There are laws now,” Robertson
continued. “I think the homosexual community has put these
draconian laws on the books that prohibit people from discussing this
particular affliction. You can tell somebody you had a heart attack.
You can tell them they've got high blood pressure. But you can't
tell anybody you've got AIDS.”
“You know what they do in San Francisco. Some in the gay
community there they want to get people so if they got the stuff
they'll have a ring, you shake hands, and the ring's got a little
thing where you cut your finger,” he added. “Really. It's that
kind of vicious stuff, which would be the equivalent of murder.”
The Christian Broadcast Network (CBN) edited out Robertson's
comments in a video posted online, and the video was later removed.
In remarks to The
Atlantic, Robertson said that he “regretted” that his
remarks had been “misunderstood.”
“[T]his often happens because people do not listen to the
context of remarks which are being said,” Robertson
said. “In no [way] were my remarks meant as an indictment of
the homosexual community or, for that fact, to those infected with
this dreadful disease.”