Iowa House District 98 candidate Joma Short in a past episode of her TV talk show made a number of homophobic and transphobic remarks.
The Republican vying for the Clinton-based seat said in a 2017 episode of Nazirites Rising, her show which no longer airs but formerly ran in Waterloo and Cedar Falls, that homosexuality is a sin and is wrong. The youth pastor turned politician insinuated in the episode, geared toward young people trying to live holy lives in today’s culture, that same-sex couples would not make good parents and that God intended for only two genders.
“A woman and a woman doesn’t produce life. A man and a man doesn’t produce life. That’s because that’s not how God intended it to be. You have to go and get creative on how to go get kids now. Fostering and adopting is great. Artificial stuff, I won’t even get into all that. But it’s supposed to be under the covenant and under the protection of one man and one woman under God,” Short said in episode 7 of Nazirites Rising.
Short did not respond to a number of Starting Line inquiries regarding her statements and current beliefs.
The topic surfaced when a question from a high school-aged viewer asked why homosexuality was wrong, and why they couldn’t “just love who [they] want to love.”
Short responded to the teenager by explaining that the inquiry was a good one, as it hasn’t been explained well in the past.
“Basically, homosexuality is wrong. And it is a sin. And we’ve gotten to the point so far in our nation that people actually call Christians, who believe in the Bible, haters, and like we shouldn’t be saying it’s wrong, it’s a sin and it’s a hate crime. It is not a hate crime. So I want to go down that road right now, it’s not a hate crime,” Short said in response.
“Homosexuality is wrong because it is immorality. Basically, God made us in His image, both male and both female. And so there’s only two kinds of people—men and women. You’re born and you become a man or you become a woman.”
Short said that the act which most displays God’s identity is when one man and one woman join in the covenant of marriage when his humility, service, strength and offspring are exhibited.
“One man and one woman producing godly offspring. And so the main reason homosexuality is wrong is because, well one, because God says it is in his Bible, if that isn’t alone enough, over and over and over again. He says this is wrong and this is a sin and don’t do this. If you do this it will lead to spiritual and then physical death. Or even physical then spiritual death.”
For the same reasons same-sex relationships are wrong, Short said, gender transformations are “immoral.”
“The reason it’s wrong is it corrupts the image of God in you. If you were born a man, if you were born a woman, you’re not supposed to change your sex. That’s who God wanted you to be. He wanted you to be a woman or he wanted you to be a man.”
Short went on to say that homosexual people could be “delivered” from their desires.
“I have friends that used to live homosexual lifestyles until the lord got ahold of their hearts and convinced them of that wrongdoing. And people say, oh you can’t change, you’re born that way, and that’s a lie. That’s not true. The Lord came in and restored them. Healed them, spoke identity over them,” she said.
Clinton County was one of a number of Iowa counties that shifted from blue to red in 2016. The seat Short is running for is held by Democrat Mary Wolfe. The district which once elected Barack Obama by over 31 points in 2012 only voted for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in 2016 by 3 points.
by Isabella Murray
Posted 10/2/20
Iowa Starting Line is an independently owned progressive news outlet devoted to providing unique, insightful coverage on Iowa news and politics. We need reader support to continue operating — please donate here. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for more coverage.