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The Republican National Committee did little Thursday to quell the uproar over a controversial Facebook posting by committeeman Dave Agema of Michian on “filthy” homosexuals that has prompted calls for his resignation or removal from the party’s leadership.

On Wednesday, Agema copy-pasted an article by “Frank Joseph, M.D.” entitled “Everyone Should Know These Statistics on Homosexuals” onto his Facebook page. The article includes the statement that “part of the homosexual agenda is to get the public to affirm their filthy lifestyle.”

The posting was quickly flagged and denounced by a group of young Republicans, led by precinct delegate and operative Dennis Lennox, that includes many college Republicans. “This isn’t about what we believe either politically or as women and men of faith,” the Republicans said in a statement to reporters late Wednesday. “This is about common decency and realizing that you cannot win an election by insulting a wide swath of the electorate, whose votes our Republican Party needs to once again form a national majority. We do not have confidence in Mr. Agema representing the best interests of our fellow Michigan Republicans and as a result ask him to resign from his seat on the Republican National Committee.”

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus responded to the controversy in a statement to TIME Thursday: “The party’s position on traditional marriage is clear but as I have been saying, all human beings deserve to be treated with dignity and respect,” he said. But Priebus stopped short of directly condemning Agema.

That response echoed remarks by Michigan GOP chairman Bobby Schostak, who implied that the statement “undermines” the party platform but did not repudiate the posting or call for Agema to step aside.

In a statement, Agema didn’t back down from posting the article, saying the media had taken someone else’s words as his own. “I copied and pasted a piece written by another author onto Facebook and some conservative publications and even a few liberal Republicans have chosen to take the words of someone else and cast them as my own,” he said. “I think it was a piece worth sharing given the debate over gay marriage that is happening in the Supreme Court. I strongly maintain my position in support of marriage as being between a man and a woman and will not back down from my core beliefs in support of strengthening the family.”

Lennox encouraged the RNC to take a tougher line against Agema.

“It’s clear that Republicans need to learn a lesson in the wake of Todd Aiken, Sharron Angle, and other candidates who have said deplorable things like this,” he said. “They spit in the face of voters whose support we need if we’re going to win the White House again.” http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/28/rnc-chair-urges-dignity-and-respe
ct-for-all-after-michigan-gop-officials-facebook-post-on-filthy-homosexuals/

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Kincannon, a prominent Columbia, S.C. attorney who brands himself as “the Honey Badger of American politics,” has been manufacturing these sorts of scandals a lot lately. Which begs the question … is that evidence of his own depravity? Or evidence of a culture that’s dying to be offended?

“Kincannon tweets morning, noon and night – sometimes all night long,” we wrote the last time he got in trouble. “And he’s almost always tweeting with an eye on creating precisely the sort of controversy in which he is currently engaged.”

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So here’s the top ten ridiculous republican anti-gay comments:

1. “If you’re involved in the gay and lesbian lifestyle, it’s bondage. It is personal bondage, personal despair and personal enslavement.” ~ Michele Bachmann (New Civil Rights Movement)

2. “It isn’t that some gay will get some rights. It’s that everyone else in our state will lose rights. For instance, parents will lose the right to protect and direct the upbringing of their children. Because our K-12 public school system, of which ninety per cent of all youth are in the public school system, they will be required to learn that homosexuality is normal, equal and perhaps you should try it. And that will occur immediately, that all schools will begin teaching homosexuality.” ~ Michele Bachmann (New Civil Rights Movement)

3. “If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything. Does that undermine the fabric of our society? I would argue yes, it does. ” ~ Rick Santorum. (New Civil Rights Movement)

4.“”If we cannot have moral feelings against homosexuality, can we have it against murder? Can we have it against other things? I don’t apologize for the things I raise. … I’m surprised you aren’t persuaded.” ~ Supreme Court Justice Scalia during Princeton University Appearance — 2012 (ABC News)

5. “Every society in the history of man has upheld the institution of marriage as a bond between a man and a woman. Why? Because society is based on one thing: that society is based on the future of the society. And that’s what? Children. Monogamous relationships. In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That’s not to pick on homosexuality. It’s not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be. It is one thing. And when you destroy that you have a dramatic impact on the quality.” ~ Rick Santorum. (New Civil Rights Movement)

6. “I‘m not ashamed to admit that I’m a Christian, but you don’t need to be in the pew in the country every Sunday to know that there’s something wrong with this country when gays can openly serve in the military but our kids can't openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school.” ~ Texas Governor Rick Perry (HuffPo)

7. “Gay and lesbian people can choose to be straight just like people can choose to be celibate.” ~ Newt Gingrich (Little Green Footballs)

8. “Marriage between a man and a woman is at the heart of our civilization. It’s a belief that is now under attack, yet it’s at the very core of defining who we are.” ~ Newt Gingrich (HuffPo)

9. “Of course, it is our moral heritage that one should not hate any human being or class of human beings. But I had thought that one could consider certain conduct reprehensible — murder, for example, or polygamy, or cruelty to animals — and could exhibit even ‘animus’ toward such conduct.” ~ Supreme Court Justice Scalia in Romer v. Evans — 1996 (ABC News)

10. “We need to preserve traditional values for the future of our children. Children must be raised with morals and principles. As a society, we must provide them with a secured and loving environment that allows them to flourish.” ~ California State Sen. Roy Ashburn, a vehemently anti-gay, family values Republican who turned out to be gay.Links for verification can be found at http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/03/26/top-ten-most-ridiculous-republ
ican-anti-gay-comments-including-justice-scalia-humor/

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He starts off talking about regulation for licensing, which is interesting because it initially appears that we’re seeing someone opposed to marriage equality use the rudiments of logic. Unfortunately, as we find out, this ends up being completely false. The statement that licenses exist to regulate behavior that is otherwise illegal is false.

If marriage is about procreation, should we have fertility tests as a part of the licensing process? Maybe you can only stay married as long as you have a Christian child every three years? Marriage isn't about kids. It is a legal representation of a societal relationship/bond. Marriage is important because, once you have that partner, it confers thousands of rights that you cannot otherwise have.

Let’s get something straight for Mr. King here about what the Constitution says about marriage: absolutely nothing. Not a word. Because of that, using the word “contemplation” seems to indicate that the Constitution has thoughts. I’m somewhat skeptical. Also, the “contractual guarantee between each of the generations I have mentioned” bit is pretty confusing as well. A contractual guarantee between generations? Of what? And what generations were mentioned?

It’s literally like somebody wrote this with a certain word density requirement for things like “traditional,” “marriage” and “children,” because this little diatribe really is nonsensical.

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Carson told FOX News host Sean Hannity Tuesday, “My thoughts are that marriage is between a man and a woman. It’s a well-established, fundamental pillar of society and no group, be they gays, be they NAMBLA, be they people who believe in bestiality–it doesn’t matter what they are–they don’t get to change the definition.”

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Dr. Ben Carson Apologizes: "I Love Gay People"

Neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who rose to GOP fame in recent months, apologized Friday for appearing to equate homosexuality with the criminal acts of pedophilia and bestiality.

"I love gay people. I love straight people. So this was really, I think, on my behalf, somewhat insensitive and I certainly apologize if I offended anyone, because I was not in any way comparing gays with people who engage in bestiality or sexual child abuse," Carson said on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer."

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“What I was basically saying and if anyone was offended, I apologize to you. What I was basically saying is there is no group. I wasn’t equating those things, I don’t think they’re equal. If you ask me for an apple and I give you an orange you would say, that’s not an orange. And I say, that’s a banana. And that’s not an apple either. Or a peach, that’s not an apple, either. It doesn’t mean that I’m equating the banana and the orange and the peach. In the same way I’m not equating those things.”

“My impression is what’s being asked for is the convenience of the title marriage, which is an institution that was established by God,” Carson said. “You know, I’m not sure that is the same thing. Everybody has right of association. And if we don’t give them the right to transfer property and to have you know, visitation, etc., then we really should be examining that.”

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Johns Hopkins University defends Dr. Ben Carson

Johns Hopkins University is standing by Dr. Ben Carson, even after the neurosurgeon’s anti-gay remarks, Dennis O’Shea, executive director of the university’s media relations said.

“Dr. Carson is a distinguished Johns Hopkins surgeon and scientist chosen to speak at the School of Medicine diploma ceremony because of his extraordinary accomplishments as a neurosurgeon and his many contributions as an advocate for education and children,” O’Shea said. “He was not asked to speak because of his personal political, religious or social views. His personal views are just that, his own. When he speaks about them, he is not speaking on behalf of Johns Hopkins.”

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Carson’s comparison of gay relationships to pedophilia (NAMBLA stands for the North American Man/Boy Love Association) and bestiality has caused the pediatric neurosurgeon to fall from his perch as a Republican rising a star in recent days. Earlier this month, he drew a standing ovation at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), and just last month, he publicly slammed President Obama’s position on taxes, the deficit, and health care while addressing three thousand people at the National Prayer Breakfast. The president watched from the dais, just a few feet away. In 2008, former President George W. Bush presented Carson with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

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Johns Hopkins students are campaigning to have Dr. Ben Carson pulled from this year's commencement speaker line-up, in response to comments the well-known neurosurgeon, a critic of the Obama administration, made about gay marriage.

Students accused Carson of effectively comparing "gay relationships with pedophilia and bestiality."

"At the time of his nomination, Dr. Carson was known to most of us as a world-class neurosurgeon and passionate advocate for education. Many of us had read his books and looked up to him as a role model in our careers," the group said. "Since then, however, several public events have cast serious doubt on the appropriateness of having Dr. Carson speak at our graduation."

The group cited his gay marriage comments, but also his comments at the National Prayer Breakfast.

Carson also told the Baltimore Sun that people "have completely taken the wrong meaning out of what I was saying."

He added: "Now perhaps the examples were not the best choice of words, and I certainly apologize if I offended anyone. But the point that I was making was that no group of individuals, whoever they are, whatever their belief systems, gets to change traditional definitions."

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“He (Carson) was visited on at least two occasions and told not to get into anything political,” says conservative columnist Cal Thomas, one of the organizers of the breakfast and host of an annual pre-breakfast dinner. “He was told not to embarrass the president. The people who told him that were shocked and angry. This came out of nowhere. Now he’s all over TV doing a victory lap. There’s not a whole lot of humility there.”

The interesting thing about Dr. Carson’s nearly 30 minute speech was that he barely mentioned religion. Except for the opening texts and a confused reference to Jesus at the end, his speech was completely political at an event that has always been strictly bipartisan. The idea is to bring people together, not to push them apart. If you hadn’t known he was at the National Prayer Breakfast you would have thought he was the candidate at the Republican Convention.

“It’s not my intention to offend anyone,” he said. “I have discovered, however, in recent years that it’s very difficult to speak to a large group of people these days and not offend anyone.”

Then he proceeded to offend some, with an aside “The PC police are out in full force at all times.” Political correctness,” he believes “is a horrible thing. I’m very very compassionate and I’m not ever out to offend anyone. But PC is dangerous.”

Carson started off on education, in his rambling, sometimes impossible to follow speech. He decried our educational system saying it had been “dumbed down” but advised “If you really want to be impressed , take a look at the chapter on education in my latest book, ‘America The Beautiful’ which I wrote with my wife.”

The second text:

“Proverbs 11:12 A man who lacks judgment derides his neighbor, but through knowledge the righteous escapes.”

With that message, he took it upon himself to insult lawyers. “What do lawyers learn in law school,” he asked. “To win, by hook or by crook. You gotta win, so you got all of these Democrat lawyers, and you got all of these Republican lawyers and their sides want to win. We need to get rid of that. What we need to start thinking about is, how do we solve problems?”

“Now, before I get shot,” he continued, “let me finish.” He didn’t finish.

At this point it was still not clear what he was trying to say. There was no theme except to insult the president which he knew perfectly well he was doing. In fact, he admitted later on a TV show that Obama had thanked him after the speech and said the address was very good. Though the president may have been gracious, it was quite clear he was not happy with being ambushed by Carson at the National Prayer Breakfast. The White House had asked numerous times for a copy of the speech beforehand and Carson had refused, saying he didn’t have a text and never used a teleprompter. Of the president’s reaction, Carson said to The Blaze’s Billy Hallowell, “I was kind of surprised. Because I figured he would just be fuming. But he probably figured that’s what everyone figured and he knew people were watching.”

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