Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
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Jan Mickelson
The gay rights movement has worked hard to convince society that AIDS does not discriminate, but that is a lie, conservative radio host Jan Mickelson said on his WHO-AM show Thursday.
Mickelson was responding to reports that a Republican candidate for the state legislature was rebuked by the state GOP chairman for statements on his Facebook page claiming AIDS was a punishment from God for homosexuality. Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Matt Strawn denounced the statements as “inappropriate” and said they “in no way represent the beliefs” of the party. Mickelson said Strawn is a victim of propaganda.
“For the chairman of the Republican Party to say, ‘AIDS doesn’t discriminate,’ well of course it does,” Mickelson said. “It discriminates against people who engage in stupid behavior.”
“Lung disease doesn’t discriminate, but it’s probably a good idea to stop smoking,” he said. “Cirrhosis of the liver doesn’t discriminate, but you should probably dry out and stop drinking like you’ve been doing. Heart disease and diabetes doesn’t discriminate, but you should probably take that weight off, lard butt. Of course lifestyle oriented diseases tend to reward those lifestyle afflictions disproportionately to the behavior of those doing them. This isn’t rocket science.”
Mickelson said it all comes down to God’s law, or natural law, which “also applies to sexual disorders.”
“So, does God punish homosexuality? Does he punish sodomy? Well, no, he doesn’t get off his throne and say, ‘Hey, I’m gonna get that guy.’ Well not directly,” he said. “Most of God’s laws, which another way of saying God’s law would be natural law, that is, law that is consistent with the nature of the universe because it was built in such a way, most of God’s laws are self enforcing. God doesn’t have to do anything. So if you skydive without a parachute, does God punish people who do that? No, but one of his inventions does. Gravity. If you skydive without a parachute, you’re going to die. Should you blame God for that?”
When a caller brought up that it’s promiscuity that increases the risk for AIDS, and therefore Mickelson should support legalized same-sex marriage because it would lower promiscuity in the gay community, the host scoffed, saying promiscuity “defines the lifestyle.”
“Homosexuality is intrinsically promiscuous, because it violates the design of our bodies,” he said. “There is no safe way to do that.”
The push for same-sex marriage has nothing to do with love or promoting monogamy, Mickelson said.
“The marriage license is not relevant to promiscuity amongst the gay population,” he said. “It is designed to do one thing, and that is to get access to the back pockets of the taxpayers. This is about the Benjamins. Not about the institution.”
A March report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found gay men have higher rates of HIV and syphilis than the general population. But researchers made it clear that a “range of complex factors” contribute to the figures, including “homophobia and stigma” that can prevent gay men from seeking prevention, testing and treatment services.
When contacted by The Iowa Independent, Mickelson’s WHO-AM colleague — Christian radio host Steve Deace — was also critical of the Iowa GOP’s decision to speak out and rebuke the anti-gay comments.
“It’s regrettable that for the past year those at RPI headquarters didn’t display similar outrage about the state supreme court’s immoral attempt to usurp the constitution and God’s natural law. Several times last year following the court’s marriage opinion RPI commented on every other issue except marriage, which was front and center in the media daily. My audience and I noticed the glaring omission. Just as we’ve also noticed that two of the top-ranked Republicans in Washington are headlining an event for a group of Republicans practicing homosexuality. The Republican Party in America is fortunate it’s running against the likes of Chet Culver and Nancy Pelosi this year, otherwise its base would likely teach them the same lesson they’ve taught them the past two election cycles.”
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