Michigan Politician's Antigay Facebook Post Linked to Holocaust Denier

Dave Agema

Dave Agema, the Republican National Committee member former Michigan state representative who has been roundly criticized for a recent antigay Facebook post, has drawn his “facts” about homosexuality from some extremely disreputable sources — including a Holocaust denier, reports MLive.com.

Last month Agema posted an essay titled “Everyone Should Know These Statistics on Homosexuals” by a writer identified as Frank Joseph, a physician. The article is also available with footnotes on several right-wing websites, and one footnote credits a pamphlet called “Is Homosexual Activity Normal?” by Edward R. Fields.

Fields, reports MLive.com contributor Ken Braun in an article posted today, is identified by the Anti-Defamation League as a nonpracticing chiropractor from Georgia who is not only antigay but a white supremacist and Holocaust denier.

One “dubious bullet-point” the essay drew from Fields, Braun notes, is “The median age of death of lesbians is 45 (only 24% live past age 65). The median age of death of a married heterosexual woman is 79.” Other “Fields facts” from the piece are “similarly outrageous,” Braun reports, including “37% of homosexuals engage in sadomasochism,” “60% say they have had sex with strangers in bathhouses,” and “Homosexuals are 100 times more likely to be murdered.”

“Having chosen to use the work of Dr. Fields, the author of the pamphlet Agema posted is — at best — a highly reckless and inflammatory hack whose drivel is nonetheless doggedly defended by an elected officer of the Republican Party,” writes Braun, a political consultant and former legislative aide to a Michigan Republican lawmaker.

Braun joins a chorus of voices calling for Agema to resign his position as a member of the RNC, calls that Agema has so far resisted.