NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The board of education in Tennessee state Senator Stacey Campfield's hometown in upstate New York won't remove the Knoxville Republican from its hall of fame over complaints about his comments on gays and AIDS.
The Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin reports that one woman shouted "Cowards!" after the board president read a statement this week to announce Campfield's portrait would remain hanging on Vestal High School's Hall of Fame along with other prominent graduates.
Campfield earlier this year told a satellite radio host that HIV and AIDS originated from a man having sex with a monkey and that it was nearly "impossible" for AIDS to be contracted through heterosexual sex. He also sponsored a failed effort to ban the teaching of gay issues in Tennessee public schools.
Campfield is a 1986 graduate of Vestal High School.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
