In a scandalous episode that was regarded as an act of extreme intolerance and caused outrage in Brazil, Pastor Andre Valadao, the leader of the Lagoinha Baptist Church, who is very close to former president Jair Bolsonaro, hinted during the service that his followers should exterminate homosexuals.
The service was held in Orlando, USA, in one of Lagoinha’s churches in that country, with a live broadcast to Brazil, which greatly increased the impact of the pastor’s words.
“Now is the time to return the ropes and say: you can stop, reset! But God says you can’t take it anymore. I could, I would kill everything and start again. But I promised I couldn’t, now he’s with you,” the church leader Lagoinha said, reinforcing, “Didn’t you understand what I said? Now he is with you. God left us the dirty work.”
The statements of André Valadan, a permanent presence on social networks, immediately caused a wave of denials, both in the virtual and in the real world, in connection with which the Federal Ministry of Public Supervision (MPF) decided to open an investigation against an evangelical pastor who investigated the crime of homophobia and intolerance, among other things.
Senator Fabio Contarato and federal MP Erica Wilton, linked to gay rights movements and two of the first votes to reject Valadao’s claims, strongly protested the pastor and announced they would take legal action for, among other things, incitement to crime. Faced with strong negative repercussions for an inflammatory speech during an international broadcast, André Valadao publicly stated that his words were misinterpreted and that he never incited his followers to kill homosexuals.
Valadao stated that his words were “never about killing people, God forbid this terrible sin, violence or discrimination”, but about changing behavior and the freedom to live according to what you believe.