Rep. Gary Glenn Wants Schools Held Liable For STDs If They Say, ‘It’s OK To Be Gay’

Republican Representative Gary Glenn, a Michigan lawmaker who co-authored the Michigan gay marriage ban legislation, says that school officials should pay dearly if they tell students, “It’s OK to be gay,” and then a child contracts a sexually transmitted disease.

Rep. Gary Glenn stated his belief that school officials should be held criminally or financially liable if a student contracts an STD after being told by school officials that it is OK to be gay in a documentary he participated in. The interview was filmed in 2013 before Gary Glenn took office, according to MLIVE. The short documentary featuring Gary Glenn’s staunch anti-homosexual beliefs has made the news in June 2015, after an upload to YouTube by Right Wing Watch.

Rep. Gary Glenn gets into his anti-gay views in the 30-minute film which featured other politicians and faith leaders. The short film was entitled, “Light wins: How to overcome the Criminalization of Christianity.”

“If some young person hears at school that it’s OK to be gay and then comes down with a fatal disease as a result, school officials should be held legally liable, individually and in their official capacities, financially and maybe even criminally.”

Gary Glenn is also president of the American Family Association of Michigan. Glenn’s controversial gay marriage banning legislation was approved by Michigan voters, but the fallout from that vote has been massive. The legislation is the same legislation that is at the center of the monumental gay marriage case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Gary Glenn explained his current position.

“As coauthor of the Marriage Protection Amendment, I know Michigan voters joined me in rationally choosing to preserve what’s best for society and future generations of children, consistent with over a century of Supreme Court precedent and on the right side of history as far back as recorded time.”

Glenn says that he doesn’t have any legislation in the works to punish school officials for supporting gay students, but he says that even now, he agrees with his early statements and says he will not be surprised if lawsuits against schools were coming, as conservative parents seek recourse towards school officials that support individual sexual orientation.

“If the school environment is teaching children that homosexual behavior is normal and healthy, and children, in reliance on what they’re taught from authority figures, decide to experiment or engage in such behavior and suffer negative health consequences, somebody ought to be held accountable.”

Equality Michigan’s Yvonne Siferd noted that increasing school tolerance and acceptance helps lower the high suicide rates among gay teens. She says that Gary Glenn’s comments “would be laughable if they weren’t hyperbolic and so very dangerous.” Siferd said that teens do not “turn gay,” because a school official tells them that it is OK to be gay.

Gary Glenn represents voters in some parts of both Midland and Bay Counties in Michigan. He has turned his focus away from issues of gay marriage and towards more economic issues, and many feel it’s because public opinion has shifted. After all, if the Supreme Court end up ruling that same-sex marriage bans are unconstitutional, which is expected before the month’s end, according to Huffington Post, it will be a direct result of Rep. Gary Glenn’s insistence at trying to keep marriage between one woman and one man.

[Photo via YouTube]