Michigan Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell has secured Chris Armstrong Watch, the blog he's used to harass a gay student, after a Tuesday appearance on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 created a firestorm of protest and calls for his immediate resignation.

On the program, Shirvell defended his right to harass Chris Armstrong, the openly gay president of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor Student Assembly.

“This is a political campaign. This is nothing personal against Chris,” Shirvell responded to Cooper's questions about his protest, which includes lengthy posts on his subject, heckling Armstrong at political rallies and protesting him outside his home.

“There's a picture of Chris Armstrong with a Nazi swastika under his face, there's another with the words 'racist elitist liar' scrawled on his face,” Cooper insisted. “You accuse him at one point of being Satan's representative on the student assembly.”

“I'm a Christian citizen exercising my First Amendment rights. I have no problem with the fact that Chris is a homosexual. I have a problem with the fact that he's advancing a radical homosexual agenda,” Shirvell responded.

In one blog post, titled OUTRAGE ALERT: Armstrong Invites U of M Freshman to Join the Homosexual Lifestyle, Shirvell warns parents that Armstrong is “actively recruiting your sons and daughters to join the homosexual 'lifestyle.'”

On Wednesday, Shirvell's boss, Attorney General Mike Cox, a Republican, appeared on Cooper's program. While Cox called Shirvell's actions “offensive,” he also defended his employee.

“He's clearly a bully. Absolutely,” Cox said. “And is he using the Internet to be a bully? Yes,” Cox said. “But is that protected under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution? Yes.”

The Detroit Free Press reported on Thursday that Shirvell has been banned from the University of Michigan campus, and that Armstrong has filed a personal protection order against him.

And Shirvell's Internet diary on Armstrong, Chris Armstrong Watch, was suddenly walled off from prying eyes behind a password protected page.