Josh Derke, a Democratic candidate for state representative from Michigan’s 93rd House District, has made public an awesome pro-LGBT letter he sent to anti-gay listed hate group Public Advocate of the United States (PAUC) having received a survey from the group, reports The Advocate.

Derke says that when he received the “2014 Michigan Family Values Survey” – which he refers to as “a pile of excrement” – from the Michigan-based PAUC, his jaw dropped.

The survey demanded that candidates “pledge to refuse any donation from the Homosexual Lobby or their allies — especially from Tim Gill or Paul Singer” or face being accused of supporting the “Anti-Family Agenda.”

Writing on his blog, Derke said:

“I have received some pretty outrageous letters and surveys before, but I just couldn’t be silent about this. I chose not to participate in their survey. I couldn’t. … I elected instead to send a letter. Their survey was hurtful; I have family, and many friends, that are LGBT. They’re not immoral, and they’re not seeking special privileges.”

Derke’s letter, directed to PAUC’s Eugene Delgaudio – who was recently censured by the Republican party for misuse of county funds – is one of the best and most entertaining replies to anti-gay bigots that are likely ever to read.

Last year, Delgaudio’s group was sued for stealing a New Jersey couple’s wedding photo  for use in an anti-gay political mailing [pictured right].

Apologizing to Delgaudio for his lack of support of the homophobic agenda, Derke says that the gays have “already dug their fabulously manicured claws into me, and I am afraid to report that I have been brainwashed into mindless support of the Homosexual Agenda.”

Worth quoting at length, the letter makes clear to the hate group that the “homosexual agenda” is “a phantom of your own creation”:

“Would that it were that your erudite survey had reached my desk earlier, ere I succumbed to their influence, my mind might yet be unshackled from the horrible idea that all people deserve equal treatment and dignity.

“Let me tell you what pro-family is, Eugene. Pro-family is standing by your gay brother for merely being who he is. Pro-family is accepting your cousins, your friends, and homosexual parents across the globe for who they are. It is recognizing that all credible studies that have explored the issue of gay and lesbian parents have shown that they raise well-adjusted children who are just as successful as those raised by straight parents. Pro-family means that you’re not going to rip established families apart because you can’t see through the veil of your own self-defeating prejudices.

“Pro-family is not demonizing and dehumanizing people because they’re different than you are. It is not labeling a group of people immoral because you don’t understand human sexuality.

“I am far from silent on pro-family issues. I am, in fact, vociferous. I imagine that it is a voice you’d rather be silent. The truth is that there is no homosexual agenda. There is no homosexual lobby. There are only people — men, women, transgendered, and others — who deserve equal treatment under the law, and equal respect in our society. Human beings with dignity, who love and are loved, in return.

“You signed the letter as “HON. EUGENE DELGAUDIO,” but there is nothing honorable about your letter, your survey, or your conduct. You and your group should be ashamed of sending this pile of excrement. And I hope that if there is even a shred of humanity within you that you feel a twinge of guilt and shame for comparing loving couples and parents to pedophiles.”

Josh Derke now has a fundraising page up at JoshDerke.ruck.us. Read the cover letter to the survey he received from the PAUC, AFTER THE JUMP…