Former Michigan Attorney General Mike
Cox has criticized an anti-gay Facebook post by Dave Agema, a former
Michigan state representative.
The
post touting an article titled Everyone Should Know These
Statistics on Homosexuals sparked a backlash.
In the article, writer Frank Joseph,
M.D. asserts that gay people are promiscuous, responsible for the
spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and that “many
homosexuals admit they are pedophiles.”
“[P]art of the homosexual agenda is
to get the public to affirm their filthy lifestyle,” the article
states.
The uproar included calls for Agema to
step down from his post as a Michigan Republican National
Committeeman.
Agema has defended himself, saying his
comments against homosexuality were “really more about caring.”
“[I]f you really love somebody that's
in this lifestyle, you want to ask them and try to get them out
because they're not going to live as long,” said
Agema. “It's going to hurt them emotionally and physically.”
“That's what it's about. So It's
really more about caring than it is hate,” he said.
Cox, a Republican, told MLive
that he likes Agema because “he's not afraid to speak his mind”
and that he doesn't “believe him to be a bigot or hateful.”
“What Dave posted is just stupid,
just dumb politics, and I think regardless of which side you are in
the issue, I think more Republicans should speak out about it,” Cox
said.
He added that he thinks Agema should
apologize.
“If he should apologize to anyone, it
should be to the people who support him on same-sex marriage, because
he's kind of muddied the waters and made that argument to be a
bigoted argument,” Cox said.
In remarks to MIRS,
Cox also reversed his position on gay marriage.
“Usually, I hate it when politicians
say their views have evolved, but I guess mine have,” he said.
“What two adults do in their bedroom, my religion may disapprove of
it, I may not like it or think it's correct morally, but, you know,
they have a right to do that.”