A Florida lawmaker believes the Common Core has a secret "LGBT agenda," according to The Huffington Post.
Republican state Rep. Charles Van Zant made the questionable claim in March at the Operation Education Conference in Orlando.
"These people that will now receive $220 million from the state of Florida, unless this is stopped, will promote double-mindedness in state education and will attract every one of your children to become as homosexual as they possibly can," Van Zant said.
"I'm sorry to report that to you ... I really hate to believe that news, but you need to know," he told the crowd.
You can watch the video below:
However, the American Institute for Research (AIR) -- assigned to create the Common Core tests in Florida -- denied any hidden agenda.
"We are not an advocacy group," AIR spokesman Larry McQuillan told PolitiFact in March. "AIR is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization. We do educational assessment, research, health policy research and communication, and international development. We have supported many states by providing high-quality assessments of their specific state standards."
The Florida LGBT community expressed their disappointment in Van Zant's remarks to The Florida Times-Union.
"Rep. Van Zant has a long record of extremism, so while his latest rant is shocking, it is not at all surprising," Equality Florida Institute CEO Nadine Smith said. "It is reprehensible whenever an elected official conjures up homophobic scare tactics for political gain. His assertion that an educational program seeks to 'make children gay' is simply absurd."
Smith also called on other Florida lawmakers to distance themselves from someone with "such a paranoid and unhinged view."
"Fortunately, someone who holds those views is in the dwindling minority," Smith said.
Since the video went viral, Van Zant has not publicly commented on the issue.
The Common Core is aimed at standardizing some parts of public education in the United States. However, it has recently become a hot button issue among Democrats and Republicans.
