Gold Takes on Antigay Activist Sprigg

Gay businessman and activist Mitchell Gold engaged the Family Research Council's Peter Sprigg in a lively debate on Fox News over legislation passed in California last week to require public schools to teach about LGBT contributions to history.

Sprigg called the measure "pro-homosexual propaganda" and "making the schools take sides in the culture war." Gold responded that if young LGBT people attend churches or synagogues where they're being "bashed and bullied from the pulpit," being called sinners or abominations, they need to hear a different view. Such bashing "is why kids jump off of bridges," he said.

Gold also took issue with Sprigg's assertion that "this is a direct attack upon religious liberty ... a direct attack on the orthodox teachings of the three major monotheistic religions, all of which have taught that homosexuality was immoral."

Gold responded, "They don't all teach that. Reform Judaism doesn't teach it, Episcopals don't teach it, the Evangelical Lutheran Church doesn't teach it. Your particular parts of the church do teach it, and it's misguided, it's outdated information. ... If you want to teach them that they're broken, on Sunday, in your church, unfortunately, that's your religious freedom to do it. We've got to give kids another opportunity to hear that they are good and whole and not broken."

Gold is founder of Faith in America, which fights religion-based bigotry against LGBT people. Watch the full exchange here.