SOUTH CAROLINA SENATE VOTES TO TAKE DOWN THE CONFEDERATE RAG – BUT NOT BEFORE AN ANTI-GAY RANT FIRST (VIDEO)

It is just breaking as we post that the South Carolina Senate voted 37-3 to remove the Confederate rag from Statehouse grounds, and now it goes to their House and Gov. Nikki Haley. But c’mon, you know this wasn’t going down without someone from the too-right-wing-for-his-own-good crowd, namely State Sen. Lee Bright (R), trying to defend it and saying something stupid – in this case provide us with a rant against the same sex marriage decision by the U.S. Supreme Court!

Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Senate has voted to remove the Confederate flag from a pole on Statehouse grounds.

The 37-3 vote Monday allows the state to remove the flag and the flagpole where it flies as soon as it passes the House and is signed by Gov. Nikki Haley.

The bill must pass a two-thirds vote, which is likely to be held Tuesday.

Monday’s vote comes less than a week after the 15th anniversary of South Carolina taking the flag off the Capitol dome where it flew since the early 1960s and moving it to beside a monument honoring Confederate soldiers.

Lawmakers had largely ignored the flag until the killing of nine black people during a Bible study at a historic African-American church on June 17.

Think Progress

Before he could address his belief that the Confederate flag should remain flying on the South Carolina State Capitol property, ultra-conservative state Sen. Lee Bright (R) decided to show the legislature the extent of his bigoted beliefs. In an almost three minute rant, he stood before the legislature and ranted against the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision legalizing gay marriage across the country and called out the White House for shining the “abomination colors” the night of the Court’s decision.

“Like President Reagan said, if we’re not one nation under God, we’ll be one nation gone under,” the lawmaker from Spartanburg, SC said early in Monday’s state Senate session. “And to sanctify deviant behavior from five judges… It’s time to make our stand and we’re not doing it. We can rally together and talk about a flag all we want, but the devil is taking control of this land and we’re not stopping him.”

He added that “we cannot succumb to what’s being done to the future of this nation” and that the state legislature should take a stand against “sin in the state of South Carolina.”

Bright has been one of the most vocal supporters of the Confederate flag in the state Senate. He proposed an amendment to allow voters to decide the fate of the flag which died during debate with a vote of 36-3. He also posted a “Keep the Confederate Flag” petition on his website offering other flag supports the chance to explain why it should stay flying.

“Let’s stand together and preserve a piece of our history that symbolizes states’ rights,” his petition said.

Bright ran an unsuccessful campaign to unseat Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), now a presidential contender, in the 2014 election. He has championed a number of extreme conservative views, including believing that the state should allow high schools to teach students to shoot guns and that anyone enforcing Obamacare should get a year in jail. He also also repeatedly sought to ban public funding for abortion for victims of rape and incest and funding for rape crisis centers.