Ted Cruz 'Thrilled' at Endorsement by Pol Seeking to Outlaw Homosexuality 

Texas senator and Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz says he is 'thrilled' to get an endorsement from an antigay lawmaker in Michigan who wants to criminalize homosexuality.

Cruz's campaign Monday announced his endorsement by a Michigan congressman and eight current and former state legislators. Most of them have anti-LGBT records, but the one who stands out among them is state Rep. Gary Glenn.

Glenn, elected to the legislature in 2014, has been president since 1999 of the Michigan affilitiate of the American Family Association, an antigay hate group, where he called for the criminalization of homosexuality, Right Wing Watchpoints out.

In 2010, Glenn told the now-defunct Michigan Messenger newspaper that he supported the recriminalization of homosexuality in the U.S, after Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council appeared on Hardball making a case for criminalization:

"The short answer to your question is yes, we believe that states should be free to regulate and prohibit behavior that's a violation of community standards and a proven threat to public health and safety -- including, as most of the United States did throughout its history, homosexual behavior."

Glenn also has appeared in an antigay documentary film, claiming that schools should be held liable if they tell a student it's OK to be gay.

"If some young person hears at school that it's OK to be gay and then comes down with a fatal disease as a result, school officials should be held legally liable, individually and in their official capacities, financially and maybe even criminal," Glenn said in the film Light Wins: How to Overcome the Criminalization of Christianity, released last year. His footage was reportedly filmed before he was elected state representative; watch a clip below.

He was also the coauthor of Michigan's constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage -- one of the bans struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court last year.

The Cruz campaign announced the endorsement by Glenn and the others in a statement on the campaign website:

"I am thrilled to announce the addition of such outstanding conservative legislators to our Michigan leadership team," said Cruz. "These courageous conservatives are coalescing behind our campaign because the people of Michigan are tired of career politicians in Washington and want someone who has a record of fighting for our values and the Constitution."

Michigan holds its presidential primary today.