A Wyoming legislator stands by a book he wrote in the ‘80s calling for people with HIV/AIDS to be quarantined. A senator in South Dakota wants to legalize race-based discrimination, and a 9-year-old in North Carolina is banned from bringing his My Little Pony backpack to school.

Rep. Stands by Call for AIDS Quarantine

In 1987, the newest member of Wyoming’s state legislature wrote a book called The Death Sentence of AIDS, in which he blamed the AIDS epidemic on “homosexual terrorism” and argued that people with the virus should be quarantined. Last weekend, Troy Mader—who was chosen to fill the seat of a state representative who died earlier this year—defended the book, admitting that while some of the information might need updating, he still fully stands by the core idea: that gays are more promiscuous than straight people and that this promiscuity led to the AIDS crisis. “If you want to participate in that particular lifestyle, that’s your choice,” Mader told the Casper Star-Tribune. “But I reserve the right to say, ‘Hey, there’s risk involved.’” In case there was any confusion as to how Mader feels about gay rights in 2014, he said, “We don’t have the standing to change the definition of marriage. We didn’t make it. Either nature did, if you believe in evolution, or God did, if you believe in the Bible.”

S.D. Sen: Legalize Race-Based Discrimination

South Dakota State Sen. Phil Jensen thinks businesses should be able to deny services based on customers’ race, religion, or sexual orientation. We know that Jensen isn’t the only lawmaker in this country who believes business owners should be legally allowed to discriminate against people based on the latter. But in defending a now-dead bill he’d sponsored proposing just that, Jensen told the Rapid City Journal he thinks businesses should also be able to choose their clientele based on race or religion and let the free market decide whether that is right or wrong.“If someone was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, and they were running a little baker for instance, the majority of us would find it detestable that they refuse to serve blacks, and guess what? In a matter of weeks or so, that business would shut down because no one is going to patronize them.”

Ill. Primary Winner Blames Gay Rights for Autism, Tornadoes

It’s unclear what, exactly, was going through the minds of Republican voters in Illinois’ 9th District Tuesday when they chose Susanne Atanus to face incumbent Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky in November. Perhaps they secretly want Schakowsky, who has represented the district comprising much of Chicago since 1990. Or maybe they are just fed up with things like tornadoes and autism and desperate to find a new approach to eradicate them, because the woman who just won the GOP primary believes that such diseases and natural disasters are God’s punishment for gay rights and legalized abortions. “God is angry,” Atanus told The Daily Herald back in January. “We are provoking him with abortions and same-sex marriage and civil unions. Same-sex activity is going to increase AIDS. If it’s in our military, it will weaken our military. We need to respect God.”

School Bans Boy’s My Little Pony Backpack

Unfortunately, in 2014, there are still places where a 9-year-old boy can’t wear a My Little Pony backpack to school without getting bullied. Even more unfortunate, however, is the fact that Grayson Bruce’s North Carolina school has essentially blamed him for the bullying, asking him to leave his Rainbow Dash bag at home rather than punishing the kids who punched, shoved, and called him names. “Saying a lunchbox is a trigger for bullying is like saying a short skirt is a trigger for rape,” said Grayson’s mom, Noreen. After a meeting with Noreen—and the pressure of more than 70,000 likes on a #SupportForGrayson Facebook page—Buncombe County School administrators decided Thursday to allow Grayson to bring his My Little Pony back to school.

Mass. Bill: No Sex Before Divorce Is Final

The Massachusetts state legislature held hearings this week on a bill that would ++make it illegal for divorcing parents++[/content/dailybeast/cheats/2014/03/21/mass-bill-no-sex-at-home-for-divorcing-parents.html] to date or have sex in their own home before their divorce is final. Essentially, if this bill were to pass, divorcing adults who happen to have children would have to get a judge’s approval to have sex in their home. Or, you know, just go to a hotel. Or their significant other’s house. Or just do it anyway. State Sen. Richard Ross sponsored the bill on behalf of his constituent, Wrentham Selectman Robert Leclair, who is the former president of a father’s rights organization who also reportedly, unsurprisingly, went through a nasty divorce of his own.