Right-wing radio host insists Hitler’s officers were ‘hardcore homosexuals’ and the Nazi Party started in a gay bar

Bryan Fischer

Evangelical radio host Bryan Fischer has made the baffling claim that all the officers in Hitler’s private army were “hardcore homosexuals” and that the Nazi Party itself began in a gay bar.

Bryan Fischer made the comments on the right-wing radio network American Family Radio, which is owned by the extreme anti-LGBT+ hate group American Family Association (AFA). It’s not the first time he’s attempted to draw connections between homosexuality and Nazism.

Speaking on the the December 31 episode of the show Focal Point, Fischer told listeners: “The Nazi Party started in a gay bar in Munich, Germany, and the Stormtroopers were Hitler’s enforcers in the early days of the Nazi regime – the SA, the Stormtroopers.

“Without exception, the officers – this was like Hitler’s private army – without exception, the officers in Hitler’s private army were homosexuals. You had no chance of advancing through the ranks unless you were a hardcore homosexual.”

The Nazis famously refused to tolerate homosexuality and arrested an estimated 100,000 gay men after taking power in 1933. Between 5,000 and 15,000 were sent to concentration camps, where according to survivor accounts they were among the most abused groups. Many of those who weren’t killed were castrated.

Yet Fischer asserted that Nazis only sent the “effeminate homosexuals” to concentration camps. “[The Nazis] believed in the Greek homosexual idea, the muscular, masculine, male homosexual,” he explained.

“And in fact, in a lot of homosexual circles, they will dress up in Nazi gear as kind of reminiscent of how the entire Nazi Party got started.”

Fischer shared his theory after discussing Germany’s recent move to ban conversion therapy for minors. He called the ban “inhumane” to young people who want to be “normal”.

It’s not clear where Fischer got his ideas on homosexual Nazis from, but American Family Radio routinely spreads spreads misinformation about LGBT+ people, while the AFA actively campaigns against same-sex marriage.