Homophobe Gordon Klingenschmitt Wins Colo. State Rep Primary

Gordon Klingenschmitt, the virulently antigay former Navy chaplain who has alleged, among other things, that demons are behind the movement for marriage equality and that he performed an exorcism on a lesbian soldier, has won the Republican nomination for a seat in the Colorado House of Representatives.

Klingenschmitt beat Dave Williams in Tuesday’s primary election in House District 15, which covers a portion of Colorado Springs, with 53 percent of the vote to Williams’s 47 percent, The Denver Post reports. The incumbent, Republican Mark Waller, vacated the seat to run for attorney general but subsequently dropped out of that race. In the November 4 general election, Klingenschmitt will face Lois Fornander, who was unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Klingenschmitt was forced out of the Navy after being reprimanded for going against orders by wearing his uniform at partisan political events. He now runs the Pray in Jesus Name Project, which initiates petitions for a variety of religious right causes, including the fights against LGBT equality and abortion rights. He also has a TV program titled Pray in Jesus Name.

A selection of Klingenschmitt’s most outrageous anti-LGBT statements: that gay soldiers cannot serve effectively in battle because they are “taking breaks on the combat field to change diapers, all because their treacherous sin causes them to lose control of their bowels”; that photographers taking pictures at same-sex weddings should write “worthy of death” on the back of the photos; that the “demon of rape” is behind the drive for transgender equality; and that “the ultimate hate speech is to endorse homosexuality because you give them the impression that it’s OK and that deceives them and ultimately trips them into hell.”

Klingenschmitt has also made some bizarre comments outside the realm of LGBT rights, such as that “Obamacare causes cancer” and that the Bible mandates gun ownership so believers “can defend themselves against left-wing crazies who go in there to try and assault God’s people.” Right Wing Watch has a roundup here.