'Gay beam machine': Right-wing pastor makes startling claim about airport scanners

A Christian nationalist pastor made a startling claim about scanners used at airports to detect weapons and other potential threats.

Andrew Isker, who co-hosts with C. Jay Engel what he calls "the number one Christian nationalist podcast in the world," shared his unconventional and homophobic views on the Transportation Safety Administration's security scanners in a video flagged by WTVF's Phil Williams, who has reported extensively on his ministry.

"Where was the Constitution when the Patriot Act was passed?" Isker said in a recent broadcast. "Right, give me a break. Like, I had to be molested at the airport to go to Florida, right, just to get on an airplane, just because I'm not going to go through the 'gay beam' machine. I didn't let C. Jay do it, I wouldn't let him do it. I said, 'You're getting patted down, too, buddy. I don't want them turning you gay.'"

"It appears having a guy touch you all over place, on its face, seems worse, but you don't really know what those things are doing to you," Isker added. "They can just take a picture of me naked? Like, no."

Engel, his co-host, interjected to speculate the scanning process might somehow involve "virtual adrenochrome," a reference to the chemical compound produced by the oxidation of adrenaline which plays a role in QAnon lore about wealthy elites and alleged child trafficking rings.

Isker and Engel moved to Tennessee with aims of creating a community so-called "Heritage Americans," who are depicted in their social media posts with images of Norman Rockwell's idyllic depictions of midcentury life, and they have explicitly stated their longing for the American way of life before women joined the workforce and civil rights "ruined everything."

The pair's Jackson County project resembled a similar effort by Christian nationalist pastor Doug Wilson to turn Moscow, Idaho, into a “church town," and that's apparently no accident – Isker graduated from a ministerial training program set up by Wilson’s Christ Church.

The project's real estate component is led by two related companies, New Founding and RidgeRunner, which started with an initial project in nearby Burkesville, Kentucky, before launching the Jackson County phase last year.

BNew Founding CEO Nate Fischer has described Christian nationalism as a "positive Christian vision for government," while his partner Josh Abbotoy has called for the U.S. to be ruled by a "Protestant Franco," referring to Catholic dictator who ruled over Spain from 1939 to 1975.

Abbotoy bought up 500 acres on the Macon-Jackson County line and a related corporation purchased another 100 acres near downtown Gainesboro, including an office building where Isker and Engel record their podcasts beneath portraits of former presidents James K. Polk and Richard Nixon.