Candidate Jim Hagedorn, who is running for the Republican endorsement to unseat Rep. Tim Walz, took anti-gay tirades off his blog before announcing a run for office. But Paul Schmelzer at the Minnesota Independent spotted the blog posts and brought them to light. Schmelzer spoke with OutFront Minnesota about those blog posts and the anti-gay “humor” that Hagedorn used.

To that, OutFront’s public policy director, Monica Meyer, says, “He focused on what feels like bathroom humor, although he probably thought it was more clever than that. It’s not OK.”

“I feel like he was trying to figure out a way to try to make it funny but still pointing out that gay people aren’t the same as everyone else and we can make fun of them,” she told the Minnesota Independent, adding that often candidates will use GLBT people as a “wedge issue” to draw supporters.

“You know there’s still fear out there about gay people, and sometimes that leads to violence,” she said, citing a new FBI report that found an 11-percent increase in hate crimes against people perceived as GLBT. “We really should have elected officials and candidates who really call out for fairness for everyone… [Hagedorn] should say that he doesn’t stand by those words.”

Schmelzer notes that Hagedorn has not responded to requests for comment on the blog posts.