It Is All Our Fault.

Or at least that is what certain religious leaders are saying.

Religious figures blame LGBT+ people for coronavirus
Reuters
By Hugo Greenhalgh
March 9, 2020

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Hurricane Katrina. The New Zealand earthquake. Even the Spanish economy.

Over the years, LGBT+ people have been blamed for disasters both natural and man-made, and now they stand accused of being responsible for the coronavirus epidemic.

Several U.S. religious figures and an influential Israeli rabbi have suggested the emergence of the virus is divine retribution for same-sex activity, which they see as sinful.
[…]
“Harmful ideas like this only perpetuate stigma,” added Kate Dodson, vice-president for global health strategy at the U.N. Foundation, a charity that supports the United Nations’ work.

We are not alone in being blamed,

The coronavirus and the long history of using diseases to justify xenophobia
Washington Post
By Marian Liu Operations Editor
February 14, 2020

Dirty looks, deserted restaurants, bullied children — this is the reality for many Asian Americans after the outbreak of the coronavirus six weeks ago.

Although the epicenter of the illness is in China, where tens of thousands have been affected, there have been only 15 cases in the United States as of Thursday. Still, Asians in America have been subjected to suspicion and ridicule, and not for the first time in this country’s history.

Outbreaks often have been attributed to marginalized groups in society, or the “other,” experts say. Asian Americans are still seen as “forever foreigners,” no matter how long they’ve lived in this country. Time and again, they have been blamed for importing diseases.
[…]
“What you have over history and throughout modern-day outbreaks is people fixing blame on a contagious disease on outsiders,” she said, citing past instances. In 2009, H1N1, or swine flu, was associated with Mexican Americans; in 2003, SARS with Chinese Americans; and in the 1980s, HIV with Haitian Americans. That virus was also called the “the 4H disease,” a reference to the “perceived risk factors” of “Haitians, homosexuals, hemophiliacs, and heroin” users.

And where is the hate coming from?

Fox News And Donald Trump Are Embracing Xenophobia To Defend Against The Coronavirus
“The bigotry against actual or would-be immigrants kind of goes hand in hand with the scapegoating of those same groups at a time of medical crisis.”
BuzzFeed
By Miriam Elder
March 10, 2020

[…]
Trump’s allies in Washington and on Fox News have ramped up their rhetoric against China, as they are faced with a core dilemma: how to prepare the population for severe disruptions while ensuring no blowback on the man in the White House? At least part of the answer seems to be: xenophobia.

Fox News has shifted to nearly nonstop coverage of the coronavirus. During the day, viewers get largely straightforward information about the virus’s spread, the administration’s response, the danger of cruise ships, and general health advice. When the channel’s opinion powerhouses come out at night, it’s a different story.

On Monday night, two of the network’s three main opinion hosts — Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham — leaned heavily into the fact that the virus originated in China and that any response should further isolate the US from the country. (The third, Sean Hannity, focused on combating criticism of Trump’s handling of the crisis.)

The Republican party and the Trump administration have no problem with driving wedges through the country, dividing the country into ‘us vs. them.”

It energizes their base, it gets them out on to the streets with torches. It gets them to attack “foreigners” when they speak in restaurants. It gets them to vote Republican to prevent the “others” from “destroying” the country. It “Keeps America Great.”

The Republican party feeds on hate.