Two anti-LGBTQ+ preachers are warning their male followers drinking beer is bad because it makes men "more feminine."
In entirely separate sermons, founder of the New Independent Fundamentalist Baptist movement Steven Anderson—who is pastor at the Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona—and Jonathan Shelley of the Stedfast Baptist Church in Watauga, Texas, alleged in videos posted to Twitter that men risk feminization if they drink beer.
The two men appeared to draw from online misinformation claiming hoppier beers cause sexual problems in men and disrupt their hormones even though the amount of phytoestrogen—a plant chemical that imitates actual estrogen—in them is negligible.
You can hear what Anderson said in the video below, shared by Hemant Mehta on Twitter:
Anderson said:
“People who drink a lot of alcohol, they end up getting a beer belly. But not only do they get a beer belly, they get the man-boobs."
“And I’ll tell you why they get that, not only just because of getting overweight, but also because of the fact that beer has in it hops and there are phytoestrogen mimickers in beer that actually hormonally can, you know, make you more feminine as a man."
"So, the reverse of being so manly because you drink so much alcohol, in fact drinking beer specifically can actually give you more feminine features to your body and cause you to, you know, yeah, like I said.”
You can hear what Shelley said in the video below.
Shelley said:
“I hate alcohol. It causes so much adultery and infidelity. It causes abuse."
"It makes men just become stupid losers and effeminate. Hey, let me tell you something: Beer makes you effeminate. The hops in it will feminize you."
"On purpose."
Footage of the two sermons went viral, exposing the men to heavy mockery online.
Anderson previously made headlines for advocating for the death penalty for homosexuals, a statement documented by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)—a legal advocacy organization known for its legal cases against white supremacist groups, for its classification of hate groups and other extremist organizations and for promoting tolerance education programs.
Anderson—a known antisemite who argued the anticipated Jewish messiah is the Antichrist and the Talmud is blasphemous—was banned from many countries including Canada, The Netherlands, South Africa and the United Kingdom.
Shelley has been criticized for his extreme anti-LGBTQ+ views more than once, including when he claimed during a sermon gay men are “causing themselves all kinds of problems" like allowing their intestines to "just fall out because of the actions that they do."
Shelley was mocked online after he said he would rather "eat Indian food and ranch dressing" every single day than have gay sex.
Anti-hate groups condemned Shelley last year after he declared LGBTQ+ people should be executed because "God has already ruled that murder, adultery, witchcraft, rape, bestiality and homosexuality are crimes worthy of capital punishment.”
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