KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee State Sen. Stacey Campfield — the Knoxville lawmaker behind the controversial “Don’t Say Gay” bill making its way in the Tennessee state legislature — was ejected from a Knoxville bistro on Sunday because of his anti-gay views.
Martha Boggs, owner of the Bistro at the Bijou, said she ordered Campfield out of her restaurant in disgust over his recent remarks about the origin of AIDS.
Campfield, appearing on the Michelangelo Signorile Show on Sirius XM radio last week, 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.
“I hope that Stacy Campfield now knows what if feels like to be unfairly discriminated against,” wrote Boggs of the incident, on her restaurant’s Facebook page.
“He’s gone from being stupid to dangerous,” she told the Knoxville News Sentinel. “It’s just my way of standing up to a bully.”
Campfield (R-Knoxville) has made national headlines as sponsor of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which he prefers to call “don’t teach gay.”
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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.”
The bill passed the state Senate last year, and is now awaiting a vote in the Tennessee state House.