Poll: In Massive Shift, 57 Percent of Michigan Voters Support Gay Marriage

A new poll reflects rapidly-changing opinions on same-sex marriage in Michigan, the Detroit News reports:

Support for same-sex marriage has increased to 56.8 percent, up 12.5 percentage points from last year — movement fueled largely by shifting opinions from Republicans and independents, the poll of 600 registered voters by the Glengariff Group Inc. showed.

The support is in contrast to 2004, when Michigan voters approved a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

That year, Glengariff found 24 percent of state voters supported gay and lesbian marriages. Now, 54 percent would repeal the ban and replace it with an amendment to allow same-sex marriages, the poll found.

"I don't think I've ever seen a policy question move as quickly as this one," said Richard Czuba, president of Glengariff, a Chicago-based firm that has polled about Michigan's attitudes on gay marriage and civil unions regularly since 2004.

RNC Committeeman Dave Agema Says Schools Will Turn Kids Gay

Michigan RNC Committeman Dave Agema, who has so far refused to resign for hateful remarks about gays on his Facebook page despite being asked to by Republican leadership, had a talk with hate group leader Tony Perkins, Right Wing Watch reports.

Agema compared homosexuality to alcoholism and drug abuse and then unleashed this zinger:

I think what the people have to know is if this passes, what will happen is it is just a progression of events that will occur. First of all, what will happen to your school kids when they are in school, it’s already being taught in a lot of places that it is an accepted lifestyle. Then the next thing that will occur is your kids will come home and say I think this is a good thing and I think I want to be one, and if you as a parent stand up and say this is against my moral beliefs and my biblical beliefs, then the next thing you’re going to get into is hate crimes because you’re speaking against something that’s been sanctioned by the state. If you look at Denmark and others then the state also tells the churches you have to marry homosexuals and if you don’t what may happen in the United States is you might lose your tax exempt status.

So this all blew up and so I made a web page here listing several other studies that show the harmful effects of the homosexual lifestyle. Just imagine this, if our kids are in school instead of being told that this is an acceptable and OK lifestyle we are actually briefed and taught the ramifications of this lifestyle, that you’re going to live twenty years less than the average person, you are going to die younger and here’s all the diseases you’re going to contract, there’d be a totally different philosophy here instead of basically telling the kids that this is good. So I think we got to go into this with our eyes wide open and what the 2 or 3 percent of homosexuals what they are doing in the United States today is trying to get the courts to do what they can’t get the individual states to do, and that’s dictate that all states will accept homosexual marriage.

(h/t zack ford at think progress)

Rick Santorum Invited Back to Michigan High School After Cancellation

Yesterday I reported that Rick Santorum was outraged after Dr. Thomas Harwood, the superintendent of Grosse Pointe High School in Michigan, canceled an appearance because Santorum hadn't provided a copy of his speech in advance. Santorum freaked out, saying his "free speech rights" had been violated.

Santorum has now been invited back, ClickonDetroit reports:

Harwood says parents will now be able to sign a permission slip to decide if students can attend the event to hear Santorum speak.

This compromise was reached between the school administration and the South student club Young Americans for Freedom (YAF), the event organizers.

The district says students participating in YAF raised $18,000 to bring Santorum to Michigan.

Rick Santorum Froths Over 'Free Speech Rights' After Michigan High School Cancels His Appearance

Rick Santorum's appearance at Grosse Pointe High School in Michigan was canceled by the school's superintendent Dr. Thomas Harwood after Santorum refused to provide an advance copy of his speech, the Detroit News reports:

Harwood was told he could not preview the speech intended for more than 1,700 students during an assembly at the public high school and that Santorum never spoke before high school students, Fannon said.

Harwood met with Grosse Pointe High School principal Matt Outlaw and student Peter Fox, who was instrumental in getting Santorum to accept the invitation, and informed them of the decision, Fannon said. Parents were informed via email the same day, she said.

"The district just wanted to make sure the speech was focused on leadership. And when they were unwilling to review the speech, we couldn't allow them to come," Fannon said.

"As a public school system, we must be neutral, and we can't impose a position that is not neutral during a school activity during the school day," she said.

An outraged Santorum released a statement about the cancelation:

"It's a sad day when liberal educators are allowed to influence young minds - extending free speech rights only to those who share their liberal views.  I support traditional marriage; I believe marriage should be between one man and one woman.  I'm not sure what the administrators in the Grosse Pointe Public School System are afraid of, but these students deserve the respect to form their own opinion on this important issue.

"Furthermore, anyone who has ever seen me speak knows I rarely use prepared text.  In the case of Grosse Pointe High School - I was never asked for a copy of a speech, nor did I send one.  This has nothing to do with the content of a speech, but rather the context of my convictions."

RNC Official Dave Agema Refuses To Resign Over Anti-Gay Message

Several days ago, Andy posted about a call for the resignation of Republican National Committeeman Dave Agema after he published an appalling anti-gay message on his Facebook page.

In that post, he encouraged people to read a hateful propaganda piece titled "Everyone Should Know These Statistics on Homosexuals" which includes such abhorrent claims as gays are responsible for “half the murders in large cities.”

Agema was interviewed by Michigcan's WWMT3 and, while he slightly backs away from some parts of the article, he says he very much still believes most of it.

"They quoted as what somebody else said and attributed it to me; I didn't say that," Agema said. "So, do I agree with everything that that guy and the way he said it in the article, no. But he gives a lot of statistics on the results of the health and mental and physical health of the lifestyle and what it causes."

He is refusing to resign form his post.

Watch the interview, AFTER THE JUMP.

Michigan Republicans Call for Resignation of RNC Official Dave Agema Over Anti-Gay Facebook Post

More than 20 Michigan Republicans are calling for the resignation of Republican National Committeeman Dave Agema over an anti-gay update Agema made to Facebook, the Detroit Free Press reports:

Agema’s posting Wednesday, during U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments regarding the legality of same-sex marriage, was based on an online article titled, “Everyone Should Know These Statistics on Homosexuals,” which appeared under the byline Frank Joseph, M.D.

The post depicts gays as sexually promiscuous, rife with sexually transmitted diseases and responsible for “half the murders in large cities.”

Said the group, in a statement: “This isn’t about what we believe either politically or as women and men of faith. This is about common decency and realizing that you cannot win an election by insulting a wide swath of the electorate, whose votes our Republican Party needs to once again form a national majority.”

Michigan Republican Party Chairman Bobby Schostak is also telling Agema to get out.

(via talking points memo)