Earlier this year we reported on a controversy over remarks made by Michigan RNC Committeeman Dave Agema in a Facebook post about the SCOTUS marriage arguments.

Agema's post depicted gays as sexually promiscuous, rife with STDs, and responsible for "half the murders in large cities" and warned that homosexuals were indoctrinating children in schools. Agema fought calls for his resignation.

Now Agema's at it again. At a Berrien County Republican Party Holiday Reception last Thursday, Agema told partygoers, in a defense of 'traditional marriage', that gays claim people with AIDS as their lovers in order to cheat the system and get free medical benefits.

The Herald Palladium reports:

He said among his priorities is protecting traditional marriage.

"I stand for traditional marriage, no homosexual ones," he said. "… The family unit is the basic unit in society. When you tear the family apart, you tear the country apart."

He has taken flak nationally for his stance against gay marriage, but he said he doesn't mind because while working at American Airlines, he saw firsthand what happens when benefits are extended to gay people.

He said American Airlines workers would say a person with AIDS was their lover so that person could get medical benefits.

"Folks, they (gay people) want free medical because they're dying (when they're) between 30 and 44 years old," he said. "To me, it's a moral issue. It's a Biblical issue. Traditional marriage is where it should be and it's in our platform. Those in our party who oppose traditional marriage are wrong."

He said he accepted the position as the state representative to the Republican National Committee so he could help get conservatives like himself elected.

(h/t HuffPost)