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The director of issues analysis of the fundamentalist anti-LGBT American Family Association (AFA) on Wednesday refused to answer a "simple yes or no question" about whether he had ever had a "gay impulse."

Liberal radio host Alan Colmes pointed out that AFA's Bryan Fischer could set an example for gay men and lesbians by explaining when he had chosen to be straight.

"Have you ever had a gay impulse?" Colmes asked.

"Alan, I am not going to talk about that," Fischer laughed. "Alan, I'm not going to go there! Give it a rest!"

"It's a simple yes or no question," Colmes observed.

"We're not going to talk about that," Fischer insisted.

"Because maybe if you've been able to overcome your gay impulses and you've been successful in doing it, you could be a model for other people you'd like to see act the same way," Colmes pressed.

"The focus here, Alan, is that everybody experiences sexual impulses that if they acted on those impulses, it would destroy them," the anti-LGBT crusader declared.

"Well, can you give me an example from your own life? What would be some of yours?" the liberal host wondered.

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Televangelist Pat Robertson on Monday defended an Ecuadorian preacher's homophobic comments and said that LGBT people could change their "orientation," just like God could change murderers and rapists.

The Huffington Post reported earlier this year that evangelical preacher Nelson Zavala had his political rights revoked after he said that homosexuality was "immoral" while he was campaigning for president.

"For somebody to say that a homosexual can change is somehow a hate crime -- it is a hate crime to say that somebody can change their sexual preference, that that's a hate crime?" Robertson opined on Monday. "That's what's going to happen, ladies and gentlemen. Mark that down and fight for freedom because that man's freedom of speech is being taken away."

"And the idea that anybody who has ministered to thousands of people -- as undoubtedly he has and others have in that church in Ecuador -- know very well that the power of God can change people's orientation. A murderer can change, a rapist can change, a thief can change. That's what the gospel is all about. It's not a hate crime."

(h/t: Right Wing Watch)

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On this Sunday's Reliable Sources on CNN, ESPN senior writer Andy Katz was asked by host Howard Kurtz about Fox hosts Eric Bolling and Sean Hannity and their defense of the abusive Rutgers basketball coach last week and Katz was more than happy to give Kurtz an earful with what he thought of them.

KATZ: It's ridiculous. Okay, first of all, they were losing. So that tactic wasn't working, You can clearly motivate without physical contact, without slurs. I mean, it's been proven time and time again at all levels of sports. You do not have to go to that level.

You can position. You can adjust, you know, physically moving people in different sports, but you cannot, absolutely and we saw that with the assistant Jimmy Martelli. You cannot physically hit someone. You can't throw things at someone and you cannot... We're in a different era. You can't have those kind of homophobic slurs. You can't.

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The founder of an organization which advocates for the rights AIDS patients says that a proposed Kansas law which allows HIV people to be quarantined would essentially give cover to religious officials who might want to discriminate against LGBT people.

"That rural county health department -- and I hate to say it -- potentially could use this bill to justify their religious belief that could override their professional belief," Positive Directions Inc.'s Cody Patton told KWCH on Tuesday.

Right now, it's against the law in Kansas to quarantine HIV positive people but House Bill 2183 changes that. The measure is intended to allow firefighters or paramedics who are exposed to bodily fluids during the course of duty to get the victim's blood tested without a court order. But lawmakers also added language that allows people with HIV and AIDS to be quarantined.

Patton said that he understood the need to protect emergency officials, but lawmakers had not thought through their decision to quarantine people with HIV.

"They didn't get that whole concept of being discriminated against," he pointed out. "And they didn't get that stuff still happens today."

Last week, the state Committee on Health and Human Services rejected an amendment by Sen. Marci Francisco (D) that would have restored the exclusion for people with HIV.

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Minnesota state Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen (R) says that he opposes marriage rights for LGBT people because he believes that homosexuality is a choice and a "sexual addiction."

Supporters of same sex marriage in Minnesota on Wednesday introduced a bill to legalize marriage equality after voters defeated a GOP effort to pass a constitutional ban last November.

"It would simply allow folks who so desire, who have demonstrated a lifetime of love and commitment, to get married, even if they're a same sex couple," state Sen. Scott Dibble (DFL) explained at a press conference.

But according to the StarTribune, Gruenhagen on Wednesday argued that LGBT people did not deserve the same rights as heterosexual couples.

"It’s an unhealthy, sexual addiction," the Republican lawmaker insisted. "When we're talking about gay marriage, we're not talking about an immutable characteristic, like the color of your skin. The human genome map was completed in 2003, there is no gay gene, okay? So, the concept that you're born that way and that it's an immutable characteristic is an unscientific lie."

"The facts are in on that," he added. "That's not really disputable, and to continue to report that people are born that way simply does not line up with repeatable, observable scientific facts."

Republican state Sen. Dan Hall, who has served as a chaplain at the Capitol and directed the Capitol Prayer Network, vowed to "go to jail before I ever perform a gay marriage to a homosexual."

It was not immediately clear if the supporters had the votes necessary to pass marriage equality in Minnesota.

(h/t: Talking Points Memo)

It seems this wingnut from Tennessee isn't done embarrassing his state yet: ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Sponsor Compares Homosexuality To Injecting Heroin:

Tennessee state Sen. Stacey Campfield (R) is making the press rounds to stump for the new and worsened version of his odious “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which prohibits teachers in grades K-8 from acknowledging the existence of homosexuality and also requires school officials to out gay students to their families. He has already made it clear he believes homosexuality itself is dangerous, and in an interview with TMZ, he doubled down on that absurd belief. After explaining the AIDS epidemic in Africa by claiming that sodomy was more common there among heterosexuals, Campfield went on to compare being gay to using heroin:

TMZ: If they’re going to engage in homosexual acts anyway, why not teach them how to protect themselves from [HIV]?

CAMPFIELD: You know, you could say the same thing about kids who are shooting heroin. We need to show them the best ways to shoot up. No, we don’t. Why do we have to hypersexualize little children? Why can’t we just let little kids be little kids for a while? Why do we have to have little kids be…?

TMZ: Do you believe in sex education period?

CAMPFIELD: …If you can show me where it works, great.

[...] Sex education actually works when a comprehensive safe sex curriculum is taught, and fails in states that only teach abstinence. Southern states like Mississippi, which has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the country, are starting to realize this. It’s doubtful, however, that Campfield would be interested in such facts. Read on...

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If anyone wanted to know where wingnuts Mike Lee and Rick Santorum got their talking points in opposing this United Nations treaty that just got voted down by the shameless Republicans in the Senate who were too afraid of the crackpots among their ranks to do the right thing, look no further than this guy -- Michael Farris.

CNN's Anderson Cooper did a nice job going after Sen. Mike Lee the other night when he was trying to defend leading the opposition to the treaty. This Monday evening, Cooper brought on the Home School Legal Defense Association's Farris to defend his position as well. Despite Cooper continually reminding Farris that the treaty would not directly impact United States' law or force parents of disabled children here to do anything, Farris continued to maintain that the opposite was true and that it has already impacted cases in the United States.

After he went off the air, Cooper did some follow up with their chief legal analyst at CNN, Jeffrey Toobin, who basically said that Farris was full of it. Farris continually challenged Cooper during the interview as someone who had no idea what he was talking about and painted himself as an expert because of his experience teaching law at the school he founded, Patrick Henry College. After reading a bit about it, it pretty well sounds like just another Liberty University, designed with the purpose of pushing home schooled evangelicals into the government and positions of power.

Here's more on that from Daily KOS: German reporter goes underground at Patrick Henry College:

Amrai Coen, a writer for the German weekly Die Zeit, wanted to visit Patrick Henry College, but the college administration refused her visit since the school had "bad experiences with foreign journalists." Undeterred, Amrai posed as a prospective student and showed up on campus on "Visitor's Day". Her piece on her experience that day provides a rare inside glimpse of life at America's Madrassa,

Nearly all of the students at Patrick Henry College have been home-schooled by ultra-conservative evangelical Christian parents. At Patrick Henry these young people can complete their christo-fascist indoctrination before joining right-wing think tanks and media groups in Washington. Students are taught to kneel before images of Jesus and Ronald Reagan; they attend lecturess on how America can waterboard its way to global dominance. Professors are dismissed if they actually teach science, since students are taught that the earth is only 6000 years old and baby Jesus frolicked with dinosaurs.

(Note: my translation from the Zeit piece)

The college has one mission: to save America from its downfall, from the abyss into which Barack Obama has steered the country in the past four years. Young conservative Christians are the soldiers in this wa. At Patrick Henry College they will be trained to fight one day on the front - as politicians, filmmakers, or entrepreneurs they will win back American society. Some have rejected Harvard or Yale in order to study here.

I'm sure much to the dismay of their founder, an LGBT group has also been making the public aware of how the school treats their students: Patrick Henry College, Homeschool Bastion, Has LGBT Group.

Here's more background on Farris from Right Wing Watch as well: Michael Farris Warns that the UN might 'Get Control' over Children With Glasses:

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Here we go again with Pastor Rick Warren making idiotic remarks about gay people. Rick Warren: Same sex marriage like punching a guy in the nose:

Megachurch pastor Rick Warren on Tuesday night said that same sex relationships would still be sinful even if they were natural.

“It wouldn’t bother me if there was a ‘gay gene’ found,” he told CNN host Piers Morgan.

“Here’s what we know about life,” Warren continued. “I have all kinds of natural feelings in my life and it doesn’t necessarily mean that I should act on every feeling. Sometimes I get angry and feel like punching a guy in the nose. That doesn’t mean I act on it. Sometimes I feel attracted to women who are not my wife. I don’t act on it. Just because I have a feeling doesn’t make it right. Not everything natural is good for me. Arsenic is natural.”

Here's more from Think Progress:

On CBS This Morning this week, Warren similarly defended his anti-gay positions by claiming that he can be “tolerant” and “accepting” without being “approving.” Though he may not act on his attractions to women who are not his wife, he seems to gloss over the fact that he did have the opportunity to act on his attractions to her by marrying her. By advocating against same-sex marriage, he works to prevent gays and lesbians from having the same security of a lasting partnership.

Warren has a long history of opposing marriage equality. Four years ago, he defended his support of California’s Proposition 8 by claiming that same-sex marriage is “equivalent” to incest, pedophilia, and polygamy. He also claimed that gays are “evil” and have “Christ-o-phobia.” Warren tries to offset his anti-gay beliefs by boasting his anti-AIDS work in Africa, but he has ties to conservative anti-gay leaders in Uganda who oppose using condoms to prevent transmission of HIV. The results of his particular efforts are unclear, but studies have shown that abstinence-only efforts have failed to lower HIV rates in Africa, and anti-gay stigma also contributes to the epidemic.

Full transcript below the fold.

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Conservative televangelist Joel Osteen on Thursday asserted that homosexuality was a sin and not "God's best" -- but at the same time, he said had not chosen to be straight.

During an interview on CNN, host Soledad O'Brien asked Osteen how he could claim to be uplifting LGBT people while also telling them they were sinners.

"It seems like in Christianity, sometimes we categorize sin," Osteen explained. "I mean pride is a sin, being critical is a sin, being negative is a sin."

"Those are all things you can change," O'Brien noted.

"I don't think it's God's best," the evangelist insited.

"You would say, the scripture says homosexuality is a sin," the CNN host noted.

"Exactly," Osteen agreed.

"When you're talking to your 45,000 people in your service and some of them are gay, you're saying to them, 'You're a sinner,'" O'Brien pressed.

"That's what I believe, that the scripture condemns it," Osteen replied. "It says it's a sin, but it also says, you know, lying is and that being prideful is."

O'Brien once again pointed out that liars made a choice to be "sinners," but LGBT people did not.

"I know I have not chosen to be straight, I feel like that's who I am," Osteen admitted. "I don't understand all those issues so, you know, I try to stick on the issues I do understand. I know this: I'm for everybody, I'm not for pushing people down. ... I don't know were the fine line is, but I do try to stay in my lane."

Speaking to Fox News earlier this year, Osteen said that he thought there should be some rights for gay men and lesbians, but stopped short when it came to marriage equality.

"I’m not for gay marriage, but I’m not for discriminating against people," he told host Chris Wallace.

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An electronic road sign near the Mormon church's Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah shocked motorist on Wednesday with the message "God Hates Gays."

A driver posted a video of the sign on YouTube on Thursday.

Provo Public Information Officer Helen Anderson said that the signed belonged to a contractor for the Utah Department of Tranportation, not the city.

"I personally find it very offensive," Anderson noted in a comment posted to YouTube. "Despite every effort to prevent it, sometimes signs like this get hacked. The city has contacted the team working on this construction project and they are looking into it."

A spokesperson for the Department of Transportation did not return calls by the time of publication.

According to the YouTube description, the sign was located on University Ave., which runs through Brigham Young University's campus. The school's website says it was "founded, supported, and guided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," a religion which forbids gay sex.

Earlier this year, the campus group Understanding Same-Gender Attraction (USGA) created a video to speak out about the difficulty of being gay or lesbian at the Mormon school.

Several of the 22 students in the video confessed that that they had thought about taking their own life. In fact, 74 percent of LGBT students at Brigham Young have contemplated suicide, and a remarkable 24 percent have actually tried to kill themselves.

A 2007 clarification to the BYU honor code first allowed students to admit that they were gay or lesbian. And in 2010, LGBT advocacy was first allowed on campus.

But straight students at the school continue to have more rights than LGBT students, who can’t kiss or express affection in public.

(h/t: Good As You)