Log Cabin asks Minnesota lawmaker to step down

The gay group Log Cabin Republicans on Wednesday called on Minnesota state representative Arlon Lindner to step down from the Minnesota house. Lindner, a Republican, has said that gays and lesbians are "rewriting history" by claiming to have been victims of the Nazi Holocaust. In a floor debate on his bill to strip gays and lesbians of state human rights protection, Lindner upped the ante and offended African-Americans as well. Lindner claimed that if the state did not protect children from homosexuality and AIDS, America would become another "African continent." "Lindner gratuitously attacks the gay community and now smears African-Americans as well--he just doesn't get it," said Log Cabin executive director Patrick Guerriero. "This is America in 2003--not some rural backwater circa 1953. Minnesotans should not stand for his indefensible rants from the floor of the Minnesota house. Lindner should resign; he is not fit to serve."