In promoting a new version of his
infamous “Don't Say Gay” bill, Tennessee State Senator Stacey
Campfield has said that gay sex is very dangerous.
Campfield's controversial bill, which
seeks to outlaw the discussion of sexual minorities in Tennessee's
public schools before the ninth grade, returned last month with a new
name, the Classroom Protection Act (SB234), and a new mandate:
Counselors who speak to students about the subject must inform the
students' parents that such counseling has taken place.
In an on-camera interview with the
Tennessean, Campfield defended his proposal.
This bill “says at very young ages
we're going to leave [sexual discussions] up to the families to
decide when it's age appropriate, what is age appropriate, and what
they want to talk to their children about,” Campfield said.
“I would say being gay is not a
dangerous activity. The act of homosexuality is very dangerous to
someone's health and safety.”
“You think homosexuality is radically
dangerous?” he was asked.
“I think there are health issues.
There are serious health concerns. You are talking about an activity
that can be deadly.”
“In what way?”
“Well, AIDS kills people.”
“But it's not limited to
homosexuality.”
“It is not. But I think it passes at
a 50 times higher rate in the act of homosexuality than through
heterosexuality,” he said, then added: “And those are CDC
[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] numbers.” (The video
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Writing at ThinkProgress.org,
Zack Ford called Campfield's views “absurd.”
“He doesn't just believe that
homosexuality is 'dangerous' because of the potential spread of HIV,
he actually believes that AIDS 'came from the homosexual community –
it was one guy screwing a monkey, if I recall correctly, and then
having sex with men. It was an airline pilot, if I recall.' He also
believes that homosexuality is a 'learned behavior' comparable to
bestiality.”