A Republican House candidate in South Carolina urged voters not to support Democrat Representative James Clyburn and his "gremlin" allies, The Hill reports.
This story has been updated. Please see below.
According to a post by Anthony Culler on Facebook, same-sex marriage is "a pestilence that has descended on our society, against our will, by those in the courts and government that do not value the traditional family."
"Same-sex 'marriage' has become 'legal' because the mass majority of citizens, those of us that believe in traditional families and marriage being between one man and one woman, have ALLOWED this to happen due to our ignorance and apathy," he wrote.
Culler then compared same-sex couples to "Gizmo" from the 1984 film Gremlins. In the film, the adorable "Gizmo" gives birth to violent, destructive "Gremlins" when improperly cared for. Same-sex couples, Culler argued, are also deceptively and dangerously cute.
"For years this insidious plan has been in the works and it has been systematically implemented with the principals paying little attention to set-backs and delays," he wrote.
"Do not buy the 'cuteness' and 'What will it hurt?' arguments whispered in your ears and marketed to our children. Same-sex couples that seek to destroy our way of life and the institution of marriage are NOT cute and cuddly but rather (for those of you that are old enough to remember the movie), Gremlins that will only destroy our way of life."
"Do not," Culler continued, "attend the 'over the top' and 'anything goes' ceremonies or parties that these people revel in."
Read his entire Facebook post below.
UPDATE, 9:05 p.m. EST: Culler doubled down on his remarks in a video posted to his Facebook page Monday evening, calling the criticism levied against him ironic.
"All across the nation, I have had all these bigots calling me a bigot," he says in the seven-minute long statement.
Culler once again called marriage equality supporters "gremlins" who were trying to "destroy" the Christian way of life. He also vowed to reject any initiatives tied to reproductive choice and marijuana legalization.
"In the movie, those creatures, you had to keep out of the sunlight," he said, before referencing Jesus Christ. "The ones I'm talking about, they can't get in the Son's light."
The video was recorded in the state's 6th congressional district, which Culler said is called "the Black district" by local political observers. But he called it "the Christian district" because of its heavy concentration of churches.
"The people here -- Black, white, Democrat, Republican -- we believe in family," Culler said. "We believe in traditional family. We believe in the way that it's always been: one man, one woman. Government can make up any laws it wants to. It doesn't make it right. Evil is evil, wrong is wrong."
The video can be seen below.
