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'80s sitcom heartthrob turned evangelical Kirk Cameron made his stance on gay rights, and gays in general, crystal clear in an interview with CNN's Piers Morgan last night. Survey says: definitely not pro! After Morgan broached the topic, Cameron deflected by making reference to Christine O'Donnell's gay-marriage-induced walkout of last summer, but the Growing Pains star eventually shared his views:

“I believe marriage was defined by God. Marriage is almost as old as dirt, and it was defined in the Garden between Adam and Eve. One man, one woman for life till death do you part. So I would never attempt to try to redefine marriage. And I don’t think anyone else should either. So do I support the idea of gay marriage? No, I don’t.”

Pressed further to acknowledge whether or not he considers "homosexuality a sin," Cameron said:

"I think that it's...unnatural. It's detrimental and ultimately destructive to so many of the foundations of civilization."

GLAAD has responded with this statement:

“In this interview, Kirk Cameron sounds even more dated than his 1980s TV character,” said Herndon Graddick, Senior Director of Programs at GLAAD. “Cameron is out of step with a growing majority of Americans, particularly people of faith who believe that their gay and lesbian brothers and sisters should be loved and accepted based on their character and not condemned because of their sexual orientation.”

It's tempting to dismiss Cameron as a sitcom has-been, and in mainstream entertainment, he is. But in the evangelical circles in which he moves and preaches, he is an influential figure: a charismatic and articulate star willing and able to publicly defend and promote their fundamentalist views. He's even gone so far as to hand out "revised" editions of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species on college campuses. His 2008 film, Fireproof, in which he played an internet-porn-addicted fireman who finds Jesus, was the highest-grossing independent film of that year, earning $33 million at the box office. Do you have any idea how many copies of Darwin's scientific masterwork you can defile with that kind of money?

In happier times:

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