Pastor and right-wing radio host who mocked dead AIDS victims dies of COVID-19
Denver Bible Church pastor Bob Enyart had a history of spouting anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, on and off the airwaves.
A Christian radio and TV host who mocked people who died of AIDS during the early years of the HIV epidemic has died of COVID-19.
Bob Enyart, a pastor at the Denver Bible Church and an anti-vaccination advocate since the start of the recent COVID-19 pandemic, was known during the 1990s for “gleefully” reading the obituaries of people who died from HIV/AIDS on his show, Bob Enyart Live, calling them “sodomites.” After each segment, he would then play “Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen, whose lead singer, Freddie Mercury, eventually succumbed to an AIDS-related illness.
When confronted about his actions during the 1990s, Enyart told the independent Denver-based publication Westword: “Listen to the words of the song and you’ll understand why I did it.”
Following the emergence of COVID-19, Enyart became skeptical of the disease, and, in particular, the government’s response to the pandemic. Last October, he filed a lawsuit seeking a temporary restraining order against a state public health order requiring attendees of religious services to wear masks inside places of worship, and rules limiting gatherings to no more than 175 people. A Trump-appointed judge granted that restraining order.
Enyart had previously claimed he and his wife Cheryl had sworn off taking the Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines because they were tested on cells grown in a lab from established cell lines that originated from fetal stem cells, which Enyart considered to be “the cells of aborted babies.” He also urged others to boycott those particular vaccines, and wait for vaccines that were developed “ethically.”
Earlier this month, Enyart and his wife contracted and tested positive for COVID-19, according to Westword, though at the time the infection was said to be a “minor case.” But on Sept. 13, fellow radio host Fred Williams announced in a Facebook post that Enyart had passed away.
See also: Anti-gay pastor who claimed COVID-19 was judgment on gays dies from virus
In addition to his mocking people who died from AIDS, Enyart was an outspoken opponent of LGBTQ rights and homosexuality, joking in brochure he wrote condemning homosexuality that he first “came out” as homophobic in 1989.
“I feared my family and friends might reject me for coming out. Most of them, though, are supportive,” he said, according to the now-defunct LGBTQ newspaper the Texas Triangle. “I explained to them that I was born this way. I am homophobic.
“For example, if I eat a big meal and then see one man glance romantically into another man’s eyes and then they kiss, I will lose my lunch,” he added. “I will vomit. It grosses me out.”
Enyart also sought to link LGBTQ people to violence or death, claiming that many high-ranking officials within Nazi Germany were homosexuals, and maintaining a list of mass murderers he claimed were gay, including Pulse shooter Omar Mateen, Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza, and serial killer Charles Manson. He advocated for the death penalty for homosexuality, and even claimed that Texas schools considering adopting anti-bullying policies protecting LGBTQ students were encouraging students “to have homosexual sex.”
See also:
Republican lawmaker who allegedly kicked student in balls during anti-gay tirade avoids jail time
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