A Tennessee state lawmaker on Thursday claimed that HIV originated in the gay community by an airline pilot who had sex with monkey, and that it was “virtually impossible” to contract the disease through heterosexual sex.

Appearing on the Michelangelo Signorile Show on Sirius XM radio, State Senator Stacey Campfield (R-Knoxville) — author of Tennessee’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill that would prohibit teachers from mentioning homosexuality in kindergarten through 8th grade classrooms — also asserted that the lifespan for gays and lesbians is “very short,” telling listeners to “Google it yourself.”

“Most people realize that AIDS came from the homosexual community — it was one guy screwing a monkey, if I recall correctly, and then having sex with men. It was an airline pilot, if I recall.” “My understanding is that it is virtually — not completely, but virtually — impossible to contract AIDS through heterosexual sex… […] “What is the average lifespan of a homosexual? It’s very short … Anybody out there who’s listening – your twelve listeners on your show, you have them Google ‘average homosexual lifespan.’ It’s very short.”

Defending his remarks in an interview with WBIR-TV on Friday, Campfield said, “I’m not a historian on AIDS, but I’ve read and seen what other people have read and seen and those facts are out there.”

Dr. Jacques Pepin, author of the book “The Origin of AIDS,” called Campfield’s assertions “kind of funny,” in the sense of being strange and not fully factual, reported the Memphis Commercial Appeal.

Pepin said that it is generally accepted that the initial transmission of AIDS from chimpanzees to humans occurred in Central Africa, probably 1921, when a hunter who killed a chimp contracted the virus while butchering the animal for food.

In parts of Africa, Pepin noted, about 30 percent of the population is infected with HIV, mostly through heterosexual intercourse.

Campfield has cited a 1988 advice column as the basis for his belief that HIV can not be contracted through heterosexual sex.

Campfield’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill passed the state Senate last year, and is now awaiting a vote in the Tennessee state House.

The bill would prohibit public elementary and middle school teachers from providing instruction, material or counseling that discusses sexual orientation other than heterosexuality. Campfield claims the bill is necessary because homosexuality is a “learned behavior.”