But Klingenschmitt is hardly the only person publicly peddling gay hatred.
Witness conservative-Christian-speaker David Barton, who recently visited a Colorado college to share "wisdom" like this: God won't allow a cure for AIDS because the Bible calls for homosexuals to be punished for their behavior.
Who's Barton? We'll share two descriptions. Here's the one from Barton's organization, WallBuilders:
David Barton is the Founder and President of WallBuilders, a national pro-family organization that presents America's forgotten history and heroes, with an emphasis on our moral, religious and constitutional heritage.And here's how he's characterized at the top of his Wikipedia page:
WallBuilders is a name taken from the Old Testament writings of Nehemiah, who led a grassroots movement to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and restore its strength and honor. In the same way, WallBuilders seeks to energize the grassroots today to become involved in strengthening their communities, states, and nation.
David is the author of numerous best-selling books, with the subjects being drawn largely from his massive library of tens of thousands of original writings from the Founding Era. He also addresses well over 400 groups each year.
His exhaustive research has rendered him an expert in historical and constitutional issues and he serves as a consultant to state and federal legislators, has participated in several cases at the Supreme Court, was involved in the development of the History/Social Studies standards for states such as Texas and California, and has helped produce history textbooks now used in schools across the nation.
A national news organization has described him as "America's historian," and Time Magazine called him "a hero to millions - including some powerful politicians. In fact, Time Magazine named him as one of America's 25 most influential evangelicals.
David has received numerous national and international awards, including Who's Who in Education, DAR's Medal of Honor, and the George Washington Honor Medal from the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge. His work in media has merited several Angel Awards, Telly Awards, and the Dove Foundation Seal of Approval.
David and his wife Cheryl have three grown children, Damaris, Timothy, and Stephen, and they reside in Aledo, TX.
David Barton (born January 28, 1954) is an American evangelical Christian conservative political activist and author. He is the founder of WallBuilders, a Texas-based organization which promotes the view that it is a myth that the United States Constitution insists on separation of church and state. Barton is the former vice chair of the Republican Party of Texas. He has been described as a Christian nationalist and "one of the foremost Christian revisionist historians"; much of his work is devoted to advancing the idea, based upon research that many historians describe as flawed, that the United States was founded as an explicitly Christian nation.This last assertion brings us to a video posted by Right Wing Watch from Barton's recent appearance at Charis Bible College in Woodland Park.
Barton collects early American documents, and his official biography describes him as "an expert in historical and constitutional issues." Barton holds no formal credentials in history or law, and scholars dispute the accuracy and integrity of his assertions about history, accusing him of practicing misleading historical revisionism, "pseudoscholarship" and spreading "outright falsehoods." According to the New York Times, "many professional historians dismiss Mr. Barton, whose academic degree is in Christian Education from Oral Roberts University, as a biased amateur who cherry-picks quotes from history and the Bible." Barton's 2012 book The Jefferson Lies was voted "the least credible history book in print" by the users of the History News Network website. The book's publisher, the Christian publishing house Thomas Nelson, disavowed the book and withdrew it from sale. A senior executive said that Thomas Nelson could not stand by the book because "basic truths just were not there."
During his talk, Barton said that in recent years, "the federal government has spent tens of billions of dollars looking for a vaccine for AIDS. And I don't believe they will ever find a vaccine for HIV-AIDs — and I say that based on a particular Bible verse."
He then quotes from Romans 1:27: "Men, leaving natural relations with the woman, lusted toward each other and did that which is wrong, receiving in their bodies the penalty due them."
The notion of homosexuals "receiving in their bodies the penalty due them" is the key phrase for Barton. In his words, "The Bible says if you engage in homosexuality, your body will do things that will penalize you. So if you can have a vaccine for AIDS, then you're keeping your body from penalizing you. I don't think they'll ever find a vaccine for AIDS."
If a vaccine for prejudice is ever developed, however, we know of a good test subject.
Here's the video of Barton in Colorado.
Send your story tips to the author, Michael Roberts.