Right-Wing Preacher Defends Remark on Gay Execution — Sort Of

Fundamentalist preacher and Christian rocker Bradlee Dean is trying to defend himself against the allegation that he endorsed execution for LGBT people, but he's also evading questions about it, says commentator Michelangelo Signorile.

He writes in The Huffington Post that Dean appeared on The Michelangelo Signorile Show Monday saying his comments about Muslims being more moral than Christians because some Muslims call for the execution of gays were taken out of context.

"Speaking on my radio program on SiriusXM OutQ, Dean, at times quite heated, said that when he had made the statement that Muslims seem 'more moral,' he only meant it as 'a wake up call for the [Christian] church,'" Signorile says. Dean has sued Rachel Maddow for defamation for using a clip of his remarks on her MSNBC show and, he claims, presenting them in a way that left the impression he approved of the death penalty for homosexuality.

Signorile adds, "Asked five times, however, if he believed some Muslims are more moral than Christians because they support the execution of gays, Dean refused to answer yes or no, several times repeating the same line: 'I have continually reached out to the homosexual community.'"

Signorile notes that Dean has made numerous bizarre and derogatory statements about gays, such as claiming they were responsible for the Nazi Holocaust, and about Muslims as well. "Dean has in the past also suggested that Representative Keith Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat who is Muslim, is using support for gay marriage as way to usher in Sharia Law in the United States," Signorile writes. Ellison, the only Muslim in Congress, is a strong advocate for LGBT equality.

Read the full story and listen to the interview here.