Apparently, going through the body scanner at an airport can turn you gay — at least that is what this Tennessee pastor believes, and he isn’t afraid to tell his truth. Andrew Isker, a Fourth Street Evangelical Church preacher, explained his bizarre theory, saying he always gets frisked whenever he travels.
On his right-wing current affairs podcast Contra Mundum, Isker discussed his traveling preferences with his co-host C. Jay Engel. “I had to be molested at the airport to go to Florida. Just to get on the airplane,” the Christian minister declared in the clip. Why? One might ask because Isker won’t go through the “gay beam” body scanner. The podcaster, who seemed to be traveling with his son, said he didn’t allow him to be scanned either.
“I’m not going to go through the ‘gay beam’ machine. I didn’t let C. Jay do it, I wouldn’t let him do it. I said, ‘You’re getting patted down, too, buddy. I don’t want them turning you gay.”
Luckily, it seems the irony of his preference wasn’t lost on Isker, who told his co-host he understands how getting frisked isn’t necessarily the least gay option. “It appears having a guy touch you all over the place, on its face, seems worse,” he admitted. “But you don’t really know what those things are doing to you. They can just take a picture of me naked? Like, no.“
Isker’s comment sounds like quite the bizarre conspiracy theory, as there is no scientific proof that body scanners take naked photos. Instead, a cartoonish image similar to that of X-ray machines is used. They are just used to detect contraband inside or on a person’s body.
As expected, an excerpt of Isker’s podcast has gone viral, and fans online have the most to say.
“This is the repressed gay side of him, finding an excuse to get touched by a man,” one comment on Reddit read.
“The scanner just doesn’t DO IT for me the same way those strapping young men do,” this sarcastic comment read.
“He’s definitely struggling with the closet door,” another Redditor mocked, while this user added, “Look. Just pretend to fall through the scanner, and you can openly be gay AND have an excuse.”
“Just curious, when did Christianity become synonymous with Idiocracy?? I just am lost why Christian seems to be linked to people of low sense of logic, hatred, and stupidity,” a fourth comment read.
Andrew Isker’s conspiracy theory about body scanners is harmful and shouldn’t be encouraged.