Alabama US Senate candidate says Americans are 'preoccupied with homosexual activities,' 'wife swap shows'

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Alabama’s secretary of state who is running for U.S. Senate told supporters over the weekend that America’s culture is in decline because people are “preoccupied with homosexual activities” and “wife swap shows.”

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Alabama Secretary of State and Republican U.S. Senate candidate John Merrill made the remarks during a campaign stop in Fort Payne, Ala., Saturday, Yellowhammer News reported. In a phone interview with AL.com Monday, Merrill defended his comments.

John Merrill, Alabama's secretary of state who is vying for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, blamed "homosexual activities" and "wife swap shows" for America's cultural decline. (Alabama Secretary of State)

“I meant what I said. People are too interested in anything that is not uplifting, edifying. They’re too busy being preoccupied with homosexual activities and the wife swap shows," he said.

Merrill said there are no longer shows that have families with a father, mother and children living according to biblical teachings on which our nation was founded. He said programs like ‘Gunsmoke’ or ‘Bonanza’ or ‘The Virginian’ or ‘I Love Lucy’ or ‘Andy Griffith' are a thing of the past.

During the Saturday campaign stop at the Dekalb County Republican Breakfast Club, Merrill said he supports President Trump, though he didn’t always. He originally supported former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in the early stages of the 2016 president cycle before Trump became the Republican Party’s nomination.

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He vowed support for Trump’s immigration agenda to build the wall and stop “the bleeding of illegal immigrants that are coming in this nation." Merrill is one of four candidates competing for the Republican nomination to take on Democratic Sen. Doug Jones. As Alabama's Secretary of State, he said he kept illegal immigrants out of the election process by supporting voter identification laws.