Dave Agema seems to be running hard for a new political position -- Michigan's most controversial Republican.

He currently has no opposition for what's essentially a self-appointed role.

Agema's latest public statements during his active spring campaign come in a national radio interview on the American Family Radio network, where he spoke Wednesday with talk show host Tony Perkins about "a progression of events that will occur" if same-sex marriage is legal. Text and audio partions posted by a liberal group, People for the American Way, include this sample:

"The homosexual community is very organized, they got a lot of money behind them. As a matter of fact, the average homosexual makes more than the average person does, has better education and they are very good at shutting anybody down and embarrassing him so they will shut up.

So when this happened to me this time just like when it happened to me before I thought, I’m not going to keep quiet."

It's the second radio interview in two weeks by Agema, who clearly relishes his role as a punching bag for same-sex marriage backers and a darling of extreme conservatives.

That's an elevated profile for the three-term former legislator (2007-12) from Grandville (pop. 15,000). As one of 168 Republican National Committee members, he hadn't made many headlines or coast-to-coast broadcasts.

The obscurity changed after March 26, when he reposted harsh anti-gay comments on his Facebook page. They were yanked a few days later after an outcry that included Republicans, but Agema has kept the heat  on himself with a steady flow of fresh fuel.

"Dave Agema is the gift that keeps on giving. How many more days is he going to kick this story?" says a Thursday tweet from Lansing political consultant Joe DiSano, a partner in Main Street Strategies.

Agema kicks the embers again with his comments to Perkins, an employee of the Family Research Council who three months ago began hosting a daily one-hour afternoon drive-time talk show called "Washington Watch." Its slogan is "Standing for Faith, Family and Freedom."

Lest anyone doubt how friendly this setting is, Perkins commented during Wednesday's broadcast: "This is troubling that you can’t even have a conversation about what’s in the best interest of our society without being a bigot or a hater."

The only Michigan station carrying his program is WMCQ in Muskegon, but Agema's words spread beyond the airwaves.

Brian Tashman, a research associate at People for the American Way, transcribed much of the edgy conversation for the group's blog, Right Wing Watch. It's also the topic of a national Huffington Post article, drawing nearly 1,200 comments since Thursday afternoon.

Here's more of what Agema says in this latest appearance:

  • Not a hater: "What I’d like to have the homosexual community know is I don’t hate them. . . . We ought to be saying to these people: Hey, we don’t agree with your lifestyle and we’ll help you get out of it, but we want you to know the facts of what’s going to happen to you if you stay in this lifestyle. . . . If you saw your friend, for example, dying of alcoholism would you just stand quietly by and watch it happen? Or would you speak up and say hey I want to help you. That’s what we should be doing."
  • Protect children: "It’s already being taught in a lot of places that it [homosexuality] is an accepted lifestyle. Then the next thing that will occur is your kids will come home and say I think this is a good thing and I think I want to be one. And if you as a parent stand up and say this is against my moral beliefs and my biblical beliefs, then the next thing you’re going to get into is hate crimes because you’re speaking against something that’s been sanctioned by the state."
  • Same-sex marriage: "What the 2 or 3 percent of homosexuals are doing in the United States today is trying to get the courts to do what they can’t get the individual states to do, and that’s dictate that all states will accept homosexual marriage. . . . If you look at Denmark and others, then the state also tells the churches you have to marry homosexuals. And if you don’t, what may happen in the United States is you might lose your tax exempt status."  

​What Democrats see as "the gift that keeps on giving" strikes some Republicans as a cause for dismay.

Dennis Lennox, a 29-year-old Republican consultant in Cheboygan, says Agema appeals only to his party's "Neanderthal element."

Lennox, who started a petition drive to unseat Agema from his national post this week told Nolan Finely of The Detroit News:

The Reagan playbook doesn't work anymore. My party faces a real challenge. It doesn't speak to anyone under age 35. . . .

You can be a good Republican and be pro-choice. You can be a good Republican and be gay.