Evangelical Pastor From Chile Uses LGBTQ Flag as Carpet and Calls It ‘Filthy Rag’

By:
Jun 21, 2017
12:31 PM

During a Chilean TV show called “El Interruptor,” this evangelist pastor you are about to watch in the following video clip used the LGBTQ flag as a carpet, and then called it “filthy rag.”

On June 19, pastor Javier Soto, a controversial figure in Chile, was invited to the show by host José Miguel Villouta.

Soto started praying to “invite Jesus and make sure he is present knowing your condition,” referring to Villouta’s sexual orientation. He continued, saying that “it is necessary that today you [Villouta] leave cured, stronger and guided.”

As Villouta continued with the interview, Soto took the LGBTQ flag out of his jacket and put it on the floor.

“Before we continue, my feet are cold, so I am going to put this carpet on the floor. This is a filthy rag that we are going to use today to make the show more enjoyable,” Soto said, as he was stepping on the flag and grabbing his bible.

Villouta asked the pastor to remove the flag: “ I am homosexual, and this is my program and this is very disrespectful.

“I always use this filthy rag… that reflects our campaign. We evangelicals have a strong campaign against a certain ideology that supports sexual diversity,” Soto explained.

The flag also had a text that said “presidential candidates in favor of sexual diversity.”

“We are denouncing, as evangelicals, those candidates who support this agenda,” Soto said.

Chile’s presidential election will take place in November.

The program’s director interrupted the interview and asked Soto to remove the flag. Soto didn’t agree to the request and left.

Villouta tweeted later that day: ” I shared my Netflix account with an evangelical family. Other energies.”

https://twitter.com/villouta/status/876972183117082624

Of course, people reacted on social media, including some of the presidential candidates themselves:

“All my support to Villouta after this hatred act. Proud to protect the LGBT agenda as a candidate,” the profile of presidential candidate Marco Enríquez tweeted.

And, it looks like the pastor wasn’t really stepping on an LGBTQ flag. Many on Twitter have said that the flag is actually that of Cuzco, Peru.

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María Camila Montañez is a journalism student at CUNY Graduate School of Journalism’s Spanish-language program. She is originally from Colombia and tweets from @mariacmontanez.