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Ben Shapiro

Podcaster/Commentator

Updated: April 21, 2023

—Argued homosexuality should remain in the DSM as a mental illness.

—Targeted LGBTQ-inclusive holiday movies, falsely claiming that some cable channels are for “religious families” and inferring that LGBTQ people are not people of faith. 47% of LGBTQ people identify as religious and majorities of all faiths support protections for LGBTQ Americans.

—In an interview, said he thinks “homosexual activity is a sin” and equated sexual orientation with his desire to “sleep with many women.”

—In response to the Supreme Court ruling that legalized marriage equality, tweeted, “Words don’t mean anything. Laws don’t mean anything. The law is, apparently, whatever Obama says it is.” He also tweeted, “Let’s just skip all the suspense: SCOTUS should just declare a Constitutional right to whatever the hell they feel like that day,” and “Same sex marriage will never affect you. By “you,” of course, we don’t mean your business, church, school, or raising of your children.”

—Said in a speech: “A man and a woman do a better job of raising a child than two men or two women.” Research using government tracking data shows children raised by same-sex couples do as well, if not better in some areas, than children raised by different-sex couples.

—Said: “This is not a country that discriminates against homosexuals” and that “there is a vastly minute amount of discrimination against gays in this country.” The Southern Poverty Law Center, using FBI hate crimes data, notes that LGBTQs are far more likely to be victimized by violent hate crime. FBI data for 2019 shows 16.7% of hate crimes victims were targeted for their sexual orientation; 2.7% were targeted because of their gender identity.

—Said being transgender is mental illness: “It is a psychological disorder. So that’s not an insult to people who suffer from psychological disorders…you are not doing a service to people who are suffering from a mental disorder to humor them by suggesting that their mental disorder is reflected in objective reality.” The American Psychological Association does not define being transgender as a mental illness.

—Said: “You can’t magically change your gender. You can’t magically change your sex. You can’t magically change your age.”

—Described trans actor Elliot Page’s coming out announcement as “awkward,” “creepy,” “disgusting” and “pathetic.

The GLAAD Accountability Project catalogs anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and discriminatory actions of politicians, commentators, organization heads, religious leaders, and legal figures, who have used their platforms, influence and power to spread misinformation and harm LGBTQ people.