GOP congressional nominee once fondly remembered a time when homosexuality was 'criminalized'

Republican congressional candidate Mark Harris thinks this generation has ruined morality, what with decriminalizing homosexuality and all those new ideas.

At least that's what the North Carolina pastor turned politician said in 2015. Previously unreported video published by Media Matters shows Harris vehemently declaring that America is "floundering in moral decay" thanks to homosexuality, divorce, and "the life issue."

In May, Harris narrowly defeated sitting Rep. Robert Pittenger in North Carolina's 9th District Republican primary. He'll soon compete for a House seat The Charlotte Observer thinks could flip for Democrats. And he's persisently shared anti-LGBT rhetoric the whole way.

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Take Harris' comments at a 2015 religious freedom rally, which also featured the father of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) as a speaker. At the event, Harris lamented how America is "sliding from a nation who once shared a moral vision based on Judeo-Christian ethic to a nation floundering in moral decay," a video from Media Matters shows. That's partly because the U.S. has transitioned from "one generation where homosexuality was once criminalized, to now we see the criminalization of Christianity."

While those comments were made in 2015, Harris' outlook hasn't exactly changed. In a recent interview with Roll Call, Harris defended his 2013 declaration that homosexuality is "a choice." He's also consistently preached that women should "submit" to their husbands and "get over this inequality thing," per Roll Call.

In a tweet, Harris' Democratic opponent Dan McCready made sure to slam those thoughts as "out of step with this district and this century."