Here Are 15 Of The Worst Anti-LGBT Villains Of 2015

Swanson, who is a pastor at the Reformation Church of Elizabeth, Colorado and also hosts a weekly radio show, has a history of making homophobic remarks. This year, he sparked the ire of the LGBT community when he suggested that parents drown themselves instead of allowing their children to read Harry Potter. His issue with J.K. Rowling's iconic series stemmed from the author's 2007 revelation that she always thought of Dumbledore the wizard as a gay man.

Later, he took aim at Hillary Clinton, arguing that the 2016 Democratic presidential hopeful would turn children gay if she's elected.

The owners of Oregon's Sweet Cakes by Melissa violated the state's anti-discrimination laws when they cited their religious beliefs in turning away a lesbian couple who sought a wedding cake in 2013.

Still, the couple, who shuttered their storefront in 2013 when the controversy first broke, continued to make headlines throughout the course of the year. At first, they refused to pay $135,000 in state-ordered damages, even though they'd broken records with an online fundraiser in support of their cause.

The Colorado-based ex-Navy chaplain turned Republican state representative has made no secret of his opposition to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community over the years.

In August, he blasted the Boy Scouts of America's newly-revised policy on openly gay adult leaders on his "Pray in Jesus Name" radio program.

Having accused the Boy Scouts of "thumbing their nose at God" by promoting "homosexual men to mentoring and camping with your boys," he said, "All the child molesters in the Boy Scouts are homosexual. And how can I tell that? Very simple, it's logical. There were no girls in the tents."

In November, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) took his opposition to same-sex marriage to an entirely new level during a speech at Virginia's Liberty University.

Gohmert, who previously compared the treatment of marriage equality opponents to how Nazis persecuted Jews during World War II, argued that even Americans who don't believe in God should be able to see that same-sex relationships aren't natural. He went on to suggest conducting a "totally secular" congressional study that would prove it, too.

"How about if we take four heterosexual couples, and put them on an island where they have everything they need to live and exist, and we take four couples of just men and put them on an island where they have all they need to survive," he said. "And then let's take four couples of just women and put them on an island, and then let's come back in 100 years and see which one nature favors."

Although Kim Davis dominated the lion's share of media coverage, another Kentucky clerk was also outspoken in his opposition to same-sex marriage.

In an Aug. 24 interview on West Virginia’s The Tom Roten Morning Show, Casey County's Casey Davis (no relation to Kim) vowed to continue to defy the Supreme Court even if it costs him his life.

"Our law says ‘one man and one woman,’ and that is what I held my hand up and took an oath to and that is what I expected," he said. "If it takes my life, I will die ... because I believe I owe that to the people that fought so I can have the freedom that I have, I owe that to them today, and you do, we all do."

The conservative Christian media personality has become nearly synonymous with homophobia over the years.

In 2015, he argued that gays will force Christians to like anal sex and told a mother to treat her gay son the same way she'd treat a drug addict.

He also argued that same-sex marriage was still illegal despite the Supreme Court's June 26 ruling on marriage equality.

"Congress didn’t pass any law," he said. "Your state legislature didn’t pass a law. So you’re not under anything. It’s a decision of the court having to do with a couple of people. Now they would like to make it bigger than that but, in terms of the Constitution, it isn’t."

In 2014, James David Manning of ATLAH World Missionary Church made headlines for claiming that Starbucks flavored its coffee drinks with "sodomites' semen."

The New York pastor doubled down on those claims this year, and also warned heterosexual women about a "sodomite demon," which can be contracted through sexual intercourse with men who have had sex with other men.

Describing a man's semen as the "cream of the blood" that is "even more powerful than blood," he said, "If demons are in him... you're gonna get penetrated by demons."

In May, Anderson of Arizona's Faithful Word Baptist Church took a surprisingly defiant stance against conservative entrepreneurs who spoke out against same-sex marriage.

Arguing that those businesses are actually "being too nice" to the LGBT community and, as such, "are not standing for the word of God," he asked, "Who thinks it's a hard decision if some faggot wants you to make them a wedding cake? Anyone struggling with that right now?"

Anderson, who "holds no college degree but has well over 140 chapters of the Bible memorized word-for-word" according to his church's website, is no stranger to controversial declarations. In early December, he argued that "we can have an AIDS-free world by Christmas" if gays were "executed."

The conservative host and former Director of Issues Analysis at the American Family Association is no stranger to anti-LGBT declarations.

This year, however, he adopted Lady Gaga's pro-equality mantra and twisting its message for his own, anti-gay argument.

"Who would choose, at this time in our nation's history, to be a Christian? You're ridiculed. You're mocked. You're made fun of," he said. Pointing to the case of Kim Davis, he added, "Who would choose a lifestyle where you are the unending subject of ridicule, mockery, and contempt by liberals in society, by elites, by professors, on the media, by politicians? Who's going to choose that?"

"So our defense is, hey, I was born that way," he said, citing what he described as an "inner revulsion" to homosexuality.