Michigan Republican National Committee member Dave Agema — under fire for an anti-gay Facebook post — has added fuel to the flames by claiming homosexuality leads to alcoholism and drug abuse.
“If you really love someone, if you really were concerned about someone, if you saw your friend, for example, dying of alcoholism would you just stand quietly by and watch it happen? Or would you speak up and say, 'hey, I want to help you,’’ Agema said on the radio show “Washington Watch Live with Tony Perkins.’’
Agema added that the church should help gays and lesbians change their “lifestyle,” and teach them about “all the diseases you get, how it gets you into drugs.’’
In March, the former state lawmaker posted an incendiary article on his Facebook page that blasted the “filthy” lifestyle of gays — which led some GOP members to demand his resignation.
On “Washington Watch,” Agema said he wants gay and lesbians to know, “I don’t hate them.’’
“As a matter of fact when Jesus caught the woman in the act of adultery when they brought her to him he said I don’t condemn you but go and sin no more,’’ Agema told Perkins, who heads the Family Research Council.
“That ought to be the church’s goal here. We ought to be saying to these people, ‘Hey, we don’t agree with your lifestyle and we’ll help you get out of it, but we want you to know the facts of what’s going to happen to you if you stay in this lifestyle.'"
Agema also ripped schools for teaching students about gay and lesbians.
“The next thing that will occur is your kids will come home and say, ‘I think this is a good thing and I think I want to be one,’” he said.
“The problem is the homosexual community is very organized, they got a lot of money behind them. They are very good at shutting anybody down and embarrassing him so they will shut up.”
Agema has refused to resign and some Republicans are standing behind him.
Michigan Reps. Ken Yonker, Thomas Hooker, and Mike Shirkey signed a petition supporting Agema’s “efforts to stand up for conservative values.”