While speaking earlier this month to the evangelical American Decency Association, Michigan Republican National Committee member Dave Agema claimed that GOP leaders, who asked him to resign following earlier homophobic remarks, were going "the devil's way."
Agema told his audience that Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus threatened to take "direct funding away from [Agema]" if he did not resign after receiving criticism for comparing homosexuality to alcoholism, praising Russia's new anti-gay laws and saying gay and lesbian Americans supported healthcare reform because they want free coverage for AIDS.
"I got that right from Reince Priebus' mouth," Agema said. "That's what happened to him. They threatened to take several hundred thousand dollars out of the RNC unless they came out against me."
"I just think it's amazing," he continued. "We got Benghazi. We got NSA. We got the IRS. We got all these things. This is the devil’s way — this is the Democrats’ way — to split the party."
Further, Agema repeated his previous comparison of homosexuality to alcoholism. After telling his audience, "I do not hate homosexuals," Agema went on to say:
[I]f you're a homosexual, if I really care for you, and I made this example when I was on the radio one day, and they made this a big issue. I said, let me give you an example: If I have my neighbor, and he's a good friend of mine, and he's dying of alcoholism, and I know he's dying, and I can help him, if I really care for the guy, I try to do something about it, not just let him die. The same way with the homosexual lifestyle. So when I said that suddenly they said Dave Agema compares homosexuality to alcoholism. That's not what I was doing I was trying to show an example if you really care for somebody.
Surprising absolutely no one, Agema also has a history of promoting bigoted views of Muslims. Although he said, "I don't hate Muslims," while speaking before the ADA, Agema has previously referred to Muslims as "barbarous people."
If for some reason you're so inclined, you can watch Agema's (long) speech below:
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