A guest host on Rush Limbaugh's show said San Francisco is imposing a coronavirus lockdown because 'it's got all the gay guys there'

• Conservative commentator Mark Steyn, standing in for Rush Limbaugh on his syndicated US radio show Monday, claimed that San Francisco is in lockdown because of the coronavirus because "it's a big gay town."
• "If there was a big gay apocalypse, you know, the way this thing is going now, it would be Trump who would get blamed for it anyway," he said.
• San Francisco issued a "stay in place" notice Monday, requiring residents to stay at home and non-essential businesses to shutter up.
• Critics say Steyn's remarks were bigoted.
• In a statement to Business Insider, Steyn said he was stressing that "San Francisco acted with urgency because it has a population with particular vulnerabilities. This virus is deadly to old people and people with immuno-challenges."
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Conservative radio host Mark Steyn, who was filling in Tuesday for Trump's Medal of Freedom recipient Rush Limbaugh on his syndicated show, said San Franciso imposed a lockdown in response to the coronavirus outbreak because "it's a big gay town."

On Monday San Francisco became among the first major US cities to issue a "shelter in place" order, meaning the 7 million residents of the city and several adjoining counties must stay at home, unless seeking vital services, and all business apart from grocery stores, pharmacies and other essential businesses must shutter.

The measure was imposed in response to the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus, and other US cities have followed suit with requests, though not legally enforceable orders.

"As the outbreak of COVID-19 in Santa Clara County continues to accelerate, our aggressive measures are designed to slow the spread of disease and protect critical healthcare system capacity and other essential services," said Dr Sara Cody, Santa Clara County public health officer, in a statement Monday.

In comments first picked up by liberal media monitoring group Media Matters, Steyn reacted on Limbaugh's show Tuesday with a series of claims about the city's gay community, denounced by critics as inflammatory and derogatory.

"Why are they doing that? Why is San Francisco the first to do that? Because they've got all the gay guys there. It's a big gay town, San Francisco, and they're the ones with all the compromised immune systems from all the protease inhibitors and all the other stuff," Steyn said. "And they don't want all the gays dropping dead on the San Francisco mayor's watch. So that's why they've got all that sheltering in place there."

"And even if it dropped, they all dropped dead on the San Francisco mayor's watch, if there was a big gay apocalypse, you know, the way this thing is going now, it would be Trump who would get blamed for it anyway. He'd be - it would be his homophobia that would have struck down all these people in San Francisco. So that's why they've all been ordered to stay home."

Steyn is a conservative author and commentator, and a frequent guest on Fox News. He is filling Limbaugh's slot on the show after the host announced that he is being treated for lung cancer.

Limbaugh built his career on making outspoken and incendiary remarks, and in February made a series of claims about Democratic presidential contender Pete Buttigieg that were criticised as homophobic. He received the presidential medal at the State of the Union address in February.

"You can take Limbaugh outta show, but same bigotry from host," remarked Media Matters president Angelo Carusone on Twitter.

In a statement to Business Insider, Steyn rejected the criticism.

"I'm not stigmatizing anybody. I'm saying that San Francisco acted with urgency because it has a population with particular vulnerabilities. This virus is deadly to old people and people with immuno-challenges," he said.

According to an article in Bay Area Reporter, 100 LGBT groups have written to medical groups and media organizations saying that LGBT people are more at risk of the virus. There is no evidence that San Francisco introduced its measures specifically to shield the city's LGBT community.

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