Dave Agema Resigns: Republican Asked To Resign After Anti-Gay Facebook Post

Impact

One Michigan Republican National Committeeman Dave Agema came under fire on Wednesday when, according to Slate, he promoted an article on Facebook which claimed that “part of the homosexual agenda is to get the public to affirm their filthy lifestyle.”

The article, titled Everyone Should Know These Statistics on Homosexuals, is not only offensive, but also wholly inaccurate. It alleges a detailed “homosexual agenda” which holds that “Part of the homosexual agenda is to turn people away from Christianity” and :desensitizing the public."

The article also says that homosexuals are child molesters “ecause homosexuals can’t reproduce naturally, they resort to recruiting children," the article adds. “Homosexuals can be heard chanting 'TEN PERCENT IS NOT ENOUGH, RECRUIT, RECRUIT, RECRUIT' in their homosexual parades."

Agema, a former member of the Michigan House of Representatives, has never been quiet in his opposition of gay and lesbian rights, and in fact, is the kind of politician who turns young millennials away from the Republican Party.

In 2009, Agema, then-state rep., criticized his state’s democrats for “subverting the will of the people” when they tried to overturn Michigan’s 2009 voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage.

“The people of Michigan have made it clear they are against same-sex marriages … Trying to push through a law that would recognize gay marriage in Michigan is subverting the will of the people, a misuse of power, and is pandering to large donors … This type of legislation weakens the most basic unit of our country, the family," he said in a statement.

Now, however, a group of Michigan Republicans is calling for his resignation from the RNC, the Detroit Free Press reports.

The group, which describes itself as "the next generation of Michigan Republicans," said that "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."

Matt Frendewey, a spokesman for the Michigan GOP, did not comment on the calls for resignation. He added, however, that while the Republican Party believes in a traditional marriage, "that should never be confused with any form of discrimination or hate and any message to the contrary undermines the optimism and solutions that our party provides to people."

Agema, however, has made it clear that he is not going to resign, nor is he going to change his position.

"They say 'Dave's got to withdraw' or 'he's got to resign,' which I'm not going to do," he said. "Now's the time to discuss it, that's why I brought it up," Agema said. "Say, 'oh, you're dividing the party,' no, I don't think so; we're standing on the principle of the party. If the party doesn't stand on its principle, we'll lose our base."

However, what he doesn’t realize is that by making comments such as these on what is already such a divisive issue, he is doing just that. It isn’t a surprise that the group of the Republicans who are incidentally the Republicans of tomorrow – are calling for Agema’s resignation. In order to appeal to the younger millennials, the GOP has to get rid of far-right extremists such as these.