RNC Official Praises Putin’s Anti-Gay Laws As ‘Common Sense In Russia!’
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It was less than a year ago that the name Dave Agema drew national attention — and outrage. Agema had posted on his Facebook page a link to a website that labels gay people as “filthy,†claims the “median age of death of lesbians is 45 (only 24% live past age 65),” “Homosexuals are 100 times more likely to be murdered,†“25-33% of homosexuals and lesbians are alcoholics,” “50% of suicides can be attributed to homosexuals,” and “78% of homosexuals are affected by STDs.” And that is just a sampling.
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Unlike most other politicians — and unlike any decent person — Agema (image, above, with his wife, via his Facebook page), not only refused to apologize or see the error of his actions, he steadfastly stood by his post and later comments, even when members of his own party were calling for his resignation.
A former Michigan state Representative, Agema became a National Committeeman for the Republican National Committee (RNC) when his term ended in 2012. As a National Committeeman — there are only two for each state — Agema gets to vote on the RNC platform.
Now, Agema is at it again.
Jimmy LaSalvia, co-founder and former executive director of GOProud — the Tea Party group originally created as an alternative to the Log Cabin Republicans — posted the above screenshot from Agema’s Facebook page, to Twitter. (The posting seems to not be public.)
.@GOP member @DaveAgema sides with brutal dictator. Unbelievable. cc: @Reince pic.twitter.com/yNb2GoU7tx
— Jimmy LaSalvia (@JimmyLaSalvia) January 11, 2014
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You are right @conservativelez. Meanwhile, Obama sends a gay delegation to the Olympics @GOP @DaveAgema @Reince
— Jimmy LaSalvia (@JimmyLaSalvia) January 11, 2014
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It shows a link to an article at the Illinois Family Institute, a group that appears on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of active certified anti-gay hate groups. The IFI is also affiliated with the American Family Association (another anti-gay hate group) and says it has a “working relationship with other Christian ministries like the Liberty Council and the Alliance Defending Freedom.”
That article offers full-throated support for President Vladimir Putin’s anti-gay laws, which have engendered an increase in anti-gay hate violence.
Agema offered simple commentary: “Common sense in Russia!”
Mitt Romney during the 2012 presidential race said that “without question,” Russia is “our No. 1 geopolitical foe. They fight for every cause for the world’s worst actors.”
That claim was rightly lambasted.
But anti-gay hate group leaders like Scott Lively, and anti-gay conservatives — from Dave Agema to NOM’s Brian Brown to Austin Ruse and the World Congress of Families, and other American anti-gay groups now operating abroad, (as noted by the Southern Poverty Law Center) — are flocking to support the policies of Vladimir Putin, merely because he opposes homosexuality.
It is a frightening barometer of the level of conservative anti-gay hate.
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