August 27, 2014
Robertson: 13-Year-Old is Gay Because of Single Mom, Suggests More Men in His Life
Bobby McGuire READ TIME: 2 MIN.
"Blame the mom and bring on the men" was televangelist Pat Robertson's answer to a mother concerned about her 13-year-old stepson who confessed to having crushes on other boys, Right Wing Watch reports.
On Tuesday's broadcast of the "700 Club," a viewer wrote in to ask for advice on how to deal with a teenage boy who is having crushes on other boys. The message read:
Recently my stepson told us that he is having crushes on boys. He is 13 and lives with his mother most of the time. How do we approach the situation? What are the next steps to take? We have 2 other boys, ages 3 and 11. What is your suggestion? - KRISTI
Robertson's diagnosis of the problem?
"I know a lot of people disagree with this. They say they're born that way, but I think nurture has a lot of to do with this. He's being raised by a mother so his attraction is now toward other men because he's raised by a woman."
Pat's solution:
"I think before I did anything else, I would get him male companions, I'd get him some man to help him, some mentor, someone who cares about young men in a way fatherly, elder brother type of way and let the kid grow up with a male role model and see what happens."
Robertson's answer is par for the course for the 84-year-old televangelist who has a history of giving questionable advice to the parents of gay and lesbian children.
In November 2013, it was reported Robertson suggested that the mother of a gay teen ask her son if he was gay because he was molested by his coach.
"Is there a biological thing going on or has he been influenced - has a coach molested him?" Robertson asked. "They don't know what they're doing, they're teenagers," Robertson said of LGBT youth.
In December 2013, it was reported Robertson suggested that a woman who recently reconnected with a friend who she discovered was lesbian, should keep her kids away lest they catch "the gay."
"You keep love, you loved her, you were close and your influence may have been something significant to her, the idea is you don't gain anything by shunning," Robertson said. "But at the same you don't want your children to grow up as lesbians, that's what you're talking about, you don't want to show them that that's an acceptable lifestyle for your family.
"It doesn't hurt to tell somebody: I love you, we are going to do what we can to be friends if we can," he continued. "I have my lifestyle, it's Christian and you have yours, it's not; I'm sorry we can't indulge in certain things together."