Televangelist Pat Robertson claimed
Thursday that the LGBT community is “taking away the rights of
everybody.”
Robertson made his comments in response
to a The 700 Club segment which profiled Kentucky county clerk
Kim Davis and Washington florist Barronelle Stutzman, both of whom
have become Christian celebrities after losing legal battles for
refusing to serve gay and lesbian couples. Davis continues to fight
for her right not to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, while
Stutzman has been fined for refusing to provide flowers for a gay
couple's 2013 wedding.
Stutzman said that she and Davis were
fighting for “everybody's freedom.”
“I think it's going to get a lot
worse,” she
said in the segment, claiming that lawyers who defend people
accused of hate crimes could lose their licenses and journalists
could face censorship. “It's not just the florist or the baker,
it's all citizens. It's everybody's freedom. We're fighting for not
just mine, but yours.”
Robertson agreed, telling viewers that
gay people want to “persecute anybody who disagrees with them.”
“We're not talking about having
rights from the 'poor, oppressed gays.' We're talking about taking
away the freedoms of everybody who disagrees with them,” Robertson
said.
“They're taking away the rights of
everybody,” he added.