CBS News footage of the exchange is embedded below.

The disruption began shortly after Obama began an introductory exchange with Tyler Ferguson, master of ceremonies for the House of Blues event in Los Angeles and an actor in the ABC TV series Modern Family. The two were discussing the recent repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which allows gays and lesbians to openly serve their nation. Ferguson described the repeal as “the signature achievement of our time,” which seemed to be all the heckler could take.

He began to shout, “The Christian God is the one and only true living God, the creator of Heaven and the Universe.”

He continued to yell as he was escorted from the venue by Secret Service. “I love Jesus. Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ is the son of God,” he said.

As The American Independent recently reported, the Palmetto Family Council is using its state’s influential primary status to communicate its top issues to the presidential hopefuls. These are issues — among them marriage, abortion and religion in public life – that Palmetto has lobbied over in the past while receiving federal money for faith-based programs. And Huntsman is the first to show his allegiance to Palmetto’s causes.

Anticipating its first-in-the-South GOP presidential primary, the Columbia-basedPalmetto Family Council (PFC) recently sent out a Family ’12 challenge to all the presidential contenders asking them “to make family a centerpiece of their campaigns.” The challenge was accompanied by an indicators report showing that South Carolina has higher crime and welfare rates than the nation has a whole.

In an email to supporters, PFC President Oran P. Smith said Huntsman’s letter (pdf) was delivered Friday. Smith also indicated other candidates have “expressed interest” in Palmetto’s Family ’12 campaign, which essentially asks candidates to present solutions they would enact as president to restore family life.

From Huntsman’s letter (PDF):

As I stated at the Faith and Freedom Conference last month, “I do not believe the Republican Party should focus only on our economic life to the neglect of our human life. That is a trade we should not make. If Republicans ignore life, the deficit we will face is one that is much more destructive. It will be a deficit of the heart and of the soul.”

[...]

I agree with you that the decline of the family seriously threatens our future in America. Broken families not only lead to broken spirits — they lead to increased poverty, homelessness, crime, and government dependency.

[...]

As Governor of Utah, I signed some of the nation’s toughest laws to limit abortion and defend those who cannot defend themselves. We made second-trimester abortions illegal, required parental consent for minors, and allowed women to learn about the pain their aborted child would feel. My goal is to bring these pro-life, pro-family values to the White House.

[...]

I applaud the Palmetto Family for your FAMILY ’12 project. The research you have done clearly illustrates just how important it is to restore America’s Foundation.

New York’s Catholic bishops reacted by calling the vote a radical altering of of marriage.

“The passage by the Legislature of a bill to alter radically and forever humanity’s historic understanding of marriage leaves us deeply disappointed and troubled,” the group wrote in a statement following the vote. “We worry that both marriage and the family will be undermined by this tragic presumption of government in passing this legislation that attempts to redefine these cornerstones of civilization. Our society must regain what it appears to have lost –- a true understanding of the meaning and the place of marriage, as revealed by God, grounded in nature, and respected by America’s foundational principles.”

The reaction of the National Organization for Marriage, a group that opposes rights for same-sex couples and that had declared victory in New York just days before the vote, was much more pointed.

Maggie Gallagher, NOM’s chair, blamed Republicans for the passage of gay marriage.

“What does it mean that they passed gay marriage in N.Y.?” Gallagher asked in a blog post at the National Review. “Michael Long, the Conservative-party chairman, has vowed to withhold his endorsement. The National Organization for Marriage has committed $2 million to persuading Republicans: Voting for gay marriage has consequences. Sad that the N.Y. GOP has caved. Consequences to be continued.”

NOM sent out a plea asking for money to defeat four Republicans and two Democrats that voted for the marriage equality bill.

“[T]he Republican Party has sold out, and it is the Republican Party that will pay the worst price for this vote to redefine marriage,” wrote Brian Brown, NOM’s president. “In response to last night’s vote, I have doubled our pledge to New York, committing at least $2 million to make sure that New York Republicans understand that voting for gay marriage has consequences.”

On Facebook immediately after the vote, NOM went so far as to insinuate that New York Republicans had betrayed Jesus.

Other religious right organizations made similar claims. Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel warned that God would harm New York because of the vote.

“Gay ‘marriage’ mockery: ‘Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.’ Gal 6:7. Dark days ahead for NY,” Barber wrote in one tweet. “Gay “marriage” silliness: Sad for NY. Sad for America. Yet not unexpected. We mock God & He obliges. Buckle in. Rough ride ahead,” he wrote in another.

Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, an organization that has been labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, accused New York Republicans of taking bribes.

“Enormous political coercion has resulted in a profound failure of moral courage in the New York Senate. A clear majority of the people of New York oppose counterfeit ‘marriage,’ but Gov. Cuomo and anti-family lawmakers have shown that their allegiance is to a small but vocal minority seeking to redefine marriage and family,” he said in a statement. “The so-called religious protections that were tacked on to the bill will ultimately do nothing to protect the religious rights of New York citizens. As we go forward there is little doubt that the “incentives,” some taxpayer funded, used to sway votes, especially Republican ones, will be exposed.”

New York representatives of the Catholic church were not happy with the outcome. The Reverend Monsignor Kieran Harrington, a Catholic priest in Brooklyn, told the BBC that he thinks the new law is offensive.

“What we find repugnant is that this is being described as a civil rights issue,” he said. “African-Americans weren’t allowed to use the same fountains as white people. There were lynchings. The civil rights legislation was a reaction to this very real level of discrimination. If you say it’s a civil rights issue, then the state uses the coercive means at its disposal.”

The New Jersey-based National Organization for Marriage urged its supporters to rally at the Minnesota Capitol.

“Gay marriage advocates are mounting a furious last-minute assault on Republican legislators in an effort to cow them into delaying the vote authorizing the marriage amendment until sometime next year,” wrote the group’s executive director. “They are rallying supporters all around the country to contact Minnesota legislators asking them to stop the marriage amendment.”

Tony Perkins of the Washington, D.C.–based Family Research Council, an organization recently dubbed a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law center, sent an alert out as well:

The people of Minnesota deserve a full and open debate to decide the future of marriage. The only ones served by putting this vote off are gay marriage advocates, not Minnesota voters or Minnesota families.

As we speak, your state Representative is under attack by those opposed to allowing your voice to be heard. This bill is a direct threat to powerful interest groups, the small number of lawmakers who listen to them and the even smaller number of judges who are willing to foist a new definition of marriage on Minnesota.

The Catholic Defense League of Minnesota wrote about LGBT advocates “taking one last shot” at legislators:

Those of us who believe that the destruction of marriage is not only immoral but also extremely destructive of the social fabric of our country, have watched with hopeful anticipation as the bill wound its way through the legislature.

On Thursday, May 19 (tomorrow as I write this), the Minnesota House will likely take up the bill. Opposition forces such as Out Front Minnesota will be there to try to “take one last shot” at the legislators.

We have an opportunity, while investing minimal time, to fight back. As the legislators convene at the House chambers, there will be opposition forces there to try to intimidate them.

A vote on the amendment is expected on the House floor on Thursday afternoon. And LBGT advocates are planning a 2:30 rally at the Capitol to coincide with the vote.

Following a House committee vote on Wednesday to send the bill to the House floor, Gov. Dayton told reporters he would fight it “with every fiber of my being.”

Dayton has no power to veto the amendment, but he does have the bully pulpit.

“I think Minnesotans have much more compassion and understanding than they recognize and I think it will be defeated next year,” he said.

Video of Rep. Simon’s remarks have generated just under 500,000 views on YouTube:

That footage drew harsh criticism from Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network and Exodus International, a group that says it can convert gays and lesbians to heterosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ.

Exodus International’s Randy Thomas questions Simon’s theology at the 9:30 mark:

“This is their life and they want your children,” said James White of the Alpha and Omega Ministries. “They can’t have them themselves so they’ll get them any way they can.”

“Those that are evil generally don’t sound evil,” he said of Simon’s remarks:

“Give me a stinkin’ break. That is blasphemy, Mr. Simon,” said Bradlee Dean of You Can Run But You Cannot Hide. In response to Simon’s remarks saying he believes God created gays and lesbians, Dean compared LGBT people to thieves, liars, adulterers and fornicators.

He mocked the idea that homosexuality may be an innate quality. “‘Oh, I was born this way. I can’t help myself.’ Really? Then you belong in jail.”

Jake McMillian, Dean’s sidekick, called for Simon to be removed from office. “He deserves to be kicked out of office and dethroned from his position.”

Dean agreed: “Immediately! He is violating your constitution, he is violating his oath, he is violating the God he’s supposed to serve and the people that he serves.”

He continued, “Blasphemy! But here the homosexuals are praising him. This guy is reprobate. He is off the radar folks. You need to be removed! Yes, I said it from the pulpit, you need to be removed!”

Here’s audio of Dean’s full remarks:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

“History is clear: the founders of our country drew their inspiration, wisdom, and direction from the Bible,” the webcast promoters write. “Beginning in colonial times, church leaders spoke to their congregations about the events and issues of the day in the context of Biblical truth. Rediscover God in America will lay a foundation of critical knowledge for your congregation. They’ll learn how to interpret and assess current events in light of God’s Word, as our founding fathers did, and how to respond Biblically and take action that aligns with His truth.”

Rediscover America is part of United in Purpose, a conservative Christian organization that works to mobilize Christian voters.

In Minnesota, only two churches have signed up to show the webcast: United Methodist Church in New London and Jesus Assembly of God in St. Peter.

This week Pawlenty kicked off a series  of presidential forums in Iowa with The Family Leader, a controversial conservative group that calls homosexuality a “public health crisis” and teaches “gay sex kills.” He also appeared on the radio show of Focus on the Family to talk about the Christian founding of America.

But perhaps the biggest turn to the right came in January when Pawlenty appeared on the radio show of Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association (AFA). Fischer is known for making incendiary comments that have landed his group on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s anti-gay hate groups list.

In the past week, Fischer has courted controversy: On Saturday he appeared on the radio show of Bradlee Dean of You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International ministries to say that “homosexuals” were responsible — at least indirectly — for the Holocaust. And on Tuesday, Fischer said that “many of the tribal reservations today remain mired in poverty and alcoholism” because Native Americans refuse to embrace Christianity.

To Kyle Mantyla, senior fellow at People for the American Way, it’s disappointing that Pawlenty is giving Fischer legitimacy, but it’s also not surprising.

“I’d like to say that it is remarkable that someone who is planning on running for president would agree to associate with the likes of Fischer, but the fact of the matter is that Fischer is a perfectly ‘respectable’ leader within the conservative, religious right movement,” he told the Minnesota Independent. “What would truly be remarkable is if someone like Pawlenty actually had the decency and courage to stand up to Fischer and refuse to tolerate and legitimize his unrelenting bigotry.”

Mantyla has been following Fischer’s career and his controversial remarks at Right Wing Watch for several years.

“Sadly, Fischer’s open bigotry against gays and Muslims is common within the religious right and perfectly acceptable to the conservative movement as a whole,” he said. “As such, Fischer is a regular participant at religious right events where he is often given a prominent speaking slot from which to spread his views, and Republican members of Congress regularly appear on his radio program.”

Though Pawlenty continues to court those whose views many find offensive, one of his challengers doubts he will go far enough to succeed. Rick Santorum told columnist George Will last week that he “doubts that Pawlenty has the passion requisite for connecting with values voters.”

For the Minnesota Republican, it’s a double-edged sword. He needs strong support from the religious right — including those who hold views many find offensive — in order to break out of the pack to win the GOP nomination. But, if he goes too far, it could turn off the moderate voters he’ll need to woo in a general election.

Hamline University political scientist David Schultz said Pawlenty “definitely has to start drifting to the right.”

“Where the real momentum is in the Republican Party is on the right,” he said in an interview with the Minnesota Independent. “The party is being pulled by the conservative tea party wing; they are really driving it, especially in Iowa.”

Schultz mentioned a recent graph created by Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight which showed Pawlenty dead center among all the presidential candidates in terms of conservatism and party insider status, not a good place for a candidate who wants to stand out. Contrast that with Rep. Michele Bachmann, a fellow Minnesotan rumored to be running in 2012. She sits on the far right side of the conservative spectrum and has hooked herself into the tea party movement.

“Pawlenty has to go to the right to find a narrative. He’s forced to, I think. He is a Reagan Republican in a party that has rebranded itself in a Palin-Bachmann-tea party manner, and he’s trying to rebrand himself to be part of the new wave when, in fact, he’s not a part of it.”

Bachmann, he said, faces a different problem in that her far right views might make her extremely popular with the base but not with a general election voter: “If somebody like Bachmann nails the nomination, how does she then turn on a dime?”

And that’s a problem Pawlenty could face as well if he tracks toward the extreme right in order to shore up a lackluster campaign, but can’t pivot in the general election.

In 1964, Republican Barry Goldwater lost in a landslide to Lyndon B. Johnson mainly because the Democrats were successful in branding him a right-winger. Schultz says the 2012 election could shape up the same way if the GOP continues to lean right and President Barack Obama gains centrist credibility.

“Obama has reinvented himself as a centrist,” Schultz said, adding that the GOP could fracture during the nomination battle. “One question is: Does Bachmann run as an independent if she doesn’t get the nomination?”

Obama is no stranger to controversy surrounding religious associates. His former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, became a campaign issue in 2008 when some saw his sermons to be extreme. Obama had to distance himself from Wright. Will Pawlenty need to do the same?

Perhaps, but so far he doesn’t seem to be. Pawlenty has defended Fischer and other SPLC-dubbed “hate groups,” and in Iowa earlier this week, he was asked by reporters about the designation of several religious right groups as “hate groups.”

“I certainly disagree with the notion that the… Family Research Council is a hate group,” Pawlenty said at a Feb. 7 Iowa City press conference with The Family Leader’s Bob VanderPlaats. “I think the Southern Poverty Law Center is out of line for coming to that conclusion.”

And late last year, Pawlenty signed an open letter saying that the SPLC was attacking groups “that uphold Judeo-Christian moral views, including marriage as the union of a man and a woman.”

His letter did not address the claims that the SPLC made in designating those organizations as hate groups — that they intentionally spread falsehoods about Muslims, LGBT people, Native Americans and other Americans.

Lynda Waddington of the Iowa Independent contributed to this report.

Sekulow got his start by founding Christian Advocates Serving Evangelism (CASE) in 1990 to ensure the religious right has a voice in court cases involving the separation of church and state and abortion cases.

“I look for every opportunity God gives me in the courtroom to share the gospel,” he once said, adding that the religious right has a “cultural mandate” to change society in God’s image. “By whatever ethical means necessary, we need to engage in this struggle,” he said.

Sekulow’s work has come under some criticism from the legal community who see his legal empire as a way to support his “high-flying lifestyle.”

According to a 2005 profile in Legal Times, “Sekulow, through the ACLJ and a string of interconnected nonprofit and for-profit entities, has built a financial empire that generates millions of dollars a year and supports a lavish lifestyle — complete with multiple homes, chauffeur-driven cars, and a private jet that he once used to ferry Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.”

Bachmann was on Sekulow’s radio show on Thursday and invited him to teach her courses, according to People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch:

Bachmann: Our opening speaker was Justice Antonin Scalia. We had both Democrats and Republicans – we had four Democrat members of Congress. It was very civil, it was very open and we hope to invite all of the Supreme Court Justices to come and speak to us. But we also hope to have people like yourself, Jay – we’ve invited you to come and speak to members of Congress, to speak about the Constitution. The topic will be up to the speakers choice but the whole purpose and intent is to have members thinking about the Constitution and our limitations under the Constitution. That has not been a focus here in Congress in recent years. We intend to change that and this was a very good first meeting this week.

Sekulow: I look forward to participating [and] we appreciate you’re not only representing the people of your district, you’re representing all of use that share the concerns and the desire to see Constitutional Conservatism placed forward and Congresswoman, thanks for being with us and thanks for the bold stand you are taking in Washington.

Bachmann: Thank you. You’re wonderful and thank you for your ministry.

Fischer asked Pawlenty at the end of the interview, “We just saw the ban on homosexual service in the military repealed, overturned. Conservatives will be working over the next couple of years to see that that ban is reinstated. If you become president in 2012, will you work to reinstate the prohibition on open homosexual service in the military? Would you sign such a prohibition if it got to your desk?”

Pawlenty said, “Bryan, I have been a public and repeat supporter of maintaining Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. There’s a lot of reasons for that, but if you look at how the combat commanders and the combat units feel about it, the results of those kinds of surveys were different than the ones that were mostly reported in the newspaper and that is something I think we need to pay attention to. But I have been a public supporter of maintaining Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and I would support reinstating it as well.”

Pawlenty also spoke out against abortion, noting that he appointed “strict constructionist” judges in Minnesota and that he opposes same-sex marriage.

Fischer is no stranger to controversy; his group is now listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Here’s what the SPLC had to say about Fischer:

Fischer claimed in a blog post last May 27 that “[h]omosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler, and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and 6 million dead Jews.” (Ironically, the elder Wildmon was widely denounced as an anti-Semite after suggesting that Jews control the media, which the AFA says “shows a genuine hostility towards Christians.”) Fischer has described Hitler as “an active homosexual” who sought out gays “because he could not get straight soldiers to be savage and brutal and vicious enough.” He proposed criminalizing homosexual behavior in another 2010 blog post and has advocated forcing gays into “reparative” therapy. In a 2010 “action alert,” the AFA warned that if homosexuals are allowed to openly serve in the military, “your son or daughter may be forced to share military showers and barracks with active and open homosexuals.”

Gays aren’t the AFA’s only enemies. In late 2009, Fischer suggested that all Muslims should be banned from joining the U.S. military. “Islam is a totalitarian political ideology,” Fischer added in August 2010. “It is as racist as the KKK. … Allowing a mosque to be built in town is fundamentally no different that granting a building permit to a KKK cultural center built in honor of some King Kleagle.” A little later, according to the Huffington Post, Fischer said that whatever the government does to “to make it unthinkable for America’s youth to join a white supremacist group,” it should also do “to make it as unthinkable for a resident of America to embrace Islam.” Around the same time, the Huffington Post said, he blogged that Muslim values are “grossly incompatible with American values,” and therefore no place in America should allow a mosque to be built.

Here’s Pawlenty’s interview with Fischer:

Matt Barber, of the late Jerry Fallwell’s Liberty Council, gushed over a possible President Bachmann:

From the instant his fruitful eight-year reign ended, Republicans have pined for the next Ronald Reagan. To date, no man has succeeded in filling the conservative standard-bearer’s legendary boots. Well, maybe it’s time to swap boots for pumps. Could he be a she?

Forget a Senate run. The buzz inside the Beltway is that Mrs. Bachmann may be looking to add a woman’s touch to the Oval Office (beyond just sprucing up its temporary occupant’s eyesore decor). Her spokesman, Doug Sachtleben, has confirmed to media that the congresswoman is considering a potential presidential run, saying: “Nothing’s off the table.”

Mrs. Bachmann has been a stalwart in advocating on behalf of constitutional conservatism. She’s chairman of the House Tea Party Caucus and has put her money where her mouth is, voting consistently in Congress to limit the size and scope of government, fortify national security and protect life, liberty and the natural family. National Journal rated Mrs. Bachmann among the most conservative members of Congress in 2009.

Moreover, as with Reagan, it’s principle over popularity with the feminine firebrand. She’s evidently indifferent to what the moonbat media and the larger loony left think about her. This is an indispensable quality in a leader “We the People” can get behind. She’s a maverick’s maverick, not the media’s.

Larry Klayman, the former founder of Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch:

Still smug that it can retain the White House in 2012, even after President Obama has alienated most of the nation with his socialist, anti-white and anti-Judeo-Christian policies, the left has set out to destroy the one truly principled politician who can unite conservatives, libertarians, independents, tea partiers, people of faith and any American who truly believes in constrained government, fiscal and individual responsibility, a strong national defense, life, and yes, freedom under God! Her name is Michele Bachmann, and she is a congresswoman from Minnesota.

Michele Bachmann, because she is a principled anti-establishment conservative who not only talks the talk but walks the walk, is a real threat to the establishment left in particular. An attractive anti-feminist woman who is a Christian and is not afraid to be part of our revolution to take Washington apart at the seams, she could well be the next president of the United States. And, not only is the left scared, so much so that it will disgrace itself by mocking a highly intelligent, well-educated and experienced straight female who believes in individual freedom and the vision of our Founding Fathers, it is catatonic. This in and of itself tells us who the next Ronald Reagan could well be.

Joseph Farah, a “birther” and founder of the conservative WorldNetDaily, called Bachmann a “great communicator,” conjuring one of Reagan’s nicknames:

Americans demonstrated in 2010 they don’t revere career politicians. They prefer principled public servants – and that’s what Michele Bachmann represents to me and millions of other Americans before she ever makes her final decision about seeking the presidency.

She’s down to earth. She’s passionate about her beliefs. She’s attractive physically and in personality. She’s smart. She’s funny. And she is uncompromisingly principled.

Michele Bachmann exudes leadership – and that’s one of the reasons her opponents fear her.

People ask me all the time who would be best to succeed Obama in 2012. What America needs is a breath of fresh air. We don’t need any retreads. We don’t need any failed presidential candidates from the past.

What we need is someone like Michele Bachmann, a great communicator who knows what she believes in without equivocation, someone who knows how to stand up to the Beltway establishment and emerge unchanged by it.

I don’t know who else might be running. But we need at least one independent, feisty, fiery candidate like Michele Bachmann. If there is someone like her in the race, we can rest assured that we will have the opportunity to throw off the shackles placed upon the American people by the Obama regime and then some.

Is my goal simply getting America back to where we were the day Obama entered office? No.

It’s time to restore America to the constitutional principles that made it great.

It’s time to restore America to the principles of self-government.

It’s time to restore America as a sovereign, independent nation under the rule of law and the will of the people.

It will take extraordinary leadership to seize this momentous opportunity.

I have every confidence Michele Bachmann is one leader up to that task.