South Carolina state Sen. Lee Bright, the top Tea Party challenger to Sen. Lindsey Graham in last year’s Republican primary and now a state co-chair of Sen. Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign, took to the floor of the state senate today to urge legislators to focus not on removing the Confederate flag from state grounds but to instead confront the “national sin” of marriage equality.

Raw Story grabbed the video of Bright warning that “the devil is taking control of this land, and we’re not stopping him”:

It’s important to note that Bright’s anti-gay rant was not a tangent unrelated to the issue of the Confederate flag, which South Carolina lawmakers are debating today. Bright, a leader of the effort to keep the flag on statehouse grounds, has directly linked the two issues, writing in a Facebook post in defense of the flag that “the recent SCOTUS decisions teach us anything, it’s that states’ rights are under attack more than ever.”

Bright has likened efforts to remove the Confederate flag to a “Stalinist purge” and his campaign has started handing out Stars and Bars bumper stickers to supporters.

In an email urging his supporters to sign a petition supporting the Confederate flag last week, Bright defended the flag as a symbol of the “brave Confederates” who “made a bold stand against an oppressive government that far overstepped its Constitutional limits” and of “a culture that values freedom, even in the face of federal tyranny.”

Is there any doubt that states’ rights are under attack more than ever before? As I’m sure you’ve heard, the latest liberal hysteria surrounding the placement of the Confederate battle flag has swept the nation. And unfortunately, many of my conservative friends and colleagues have fallen prey to this radical, Big Government scheme. With all the noise surrounding this issue, please allow me to be abundantly clear where I stand. It is my fervent belief that the Confederate flag is a proud symbol of the following: Resistance against a federal, centralized power that FAR overreached its Constitutional limits.

against a federal, centralized power that FAR overreached its Constitutional limits. States’ rights and Constitutional liberties, which many have fought and died protecting.

and Constitutional liberties, which many have fought and died protecting. Southern heritage and a culture that values freedom, even in the face of federal tyranny. It is certainly important for us to take steps that prevent future acts of violence. But in this pursuit of peace, should we also dismantle the historical symbols that memorialize states’ rights? My answer is an emphatic “NO!” The plain and simple truth is that the placement of this flag will not prevent future tragedies. It’s abundantly clear that the radical liberal agenda is behind this push to remove the flag, which raises the question: where does it all end ? Are we to also remove the names of Confederate officers from our roads? Should we crumble all the Civil War monuments that dot our nation’s landscape? [NAME], it’s time to take a stand. Right here. Right now. Over 150 years ago, brave Confederates made a bold stand against an oppressive government that far overstepped its Constitutional limits. Will you please take a stand with me now by signing my online petition to keep the flag flying ? States all over the nation are giving ground to the radical liberals by removing the symbol of states’ rights from their historical monuments. But if we can make a stand here and now, we can send a strong message to the elites in DC that states’ rights are still alive and well. Please click here now to sign my petition , which I will then present to my colleagues in the South Carolina legislature. Let’s show them how much we value our heritage!

Cruz, for his part, has criticized people “parachuting” into South Carolina to denounce the flag.