KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee State Sen. Stacey Campfield -- the Knoxville lawmaker who is behind the controversial "Don't Say Gay" bill making its way in the Tennessee state legislature -- was ejected from Knoxville bistro on Sunday because of his anti-gay views.

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.

Tennessee State Representative Stacey Campfield (R-Knoxville) is defending his "Don't Say Gay" bill from recent criticism by Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam.

Tennessee lawmaker Stacey Campfield has spent the better part of the last seven years in the Tennessee legislature fighting for the "Don't Say Gay" bill, a law aimed at prohibiting teachers from discussing homosexuality in kindergarten through 8th grade classrooms.

The Tennessee state Senate adjourned Wednesday without voting on the "Don't Say Gay" bill, and now the bill's author, Sen. Stacey Campfield (R-Knoxville) has put off Thursday's planned vote and rescheduled it for next week.

Tennessee State Rep. Bill Dunn said it’s too late in the year for the controversial “Don’t Say Gay” bill to be approved in the state House, and that he will not pursue passage this year

Tennessee lawmaker Sen. Stacey Campfield (R-Knoxville), sponsor of the “don’t say gay” bill that would prohibit teachers from discussing homosexuality in kindergarten through 8th grade classrooms, said Thursday that homosexuality is a learned behavior.

A Tennessee Senate committee on Wednesday approved a bill that will prohibit teachers from discussing homosexuality in kindergarten through 8th grade classrooms.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Two Republican lawmakers have introduced bills in the Tennessee state legislature that would prohibit use of the words "gay" and "homosexual" in elementary schools, and ban discussion of all LGBT topics whatsoever.