CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) – A Hamilton County commissioner who switched parties said he no longer fits in with Democrats, describing them as the “same-sex marriage crowd” and backers of a “Hollywood agenda.”

Curtis Adams, a lifelong Democrat who plans to seek re-election as a Republican in August 2006, also said he doesn’t think homosexuals should be allowed to become teachers.

While GOP leaders welcomed Adams, county Democratic Party chair Bob Davis said Adams appeared to be on an “ego trip” and would not be missed.

“He’s not been involved with the party other than the fact he runs and uses the Democratic Party label,” Davis said. “We knew that he has been supporting Republicans openly for the last 10 years…. He used the party to try to get elected originally.”

Adams, who held office as a Democrat for 18 years, said the Republican Party is “not sold out to or locked in by radical groups like the ACLU, the homosexual lobby, or radical pro-choice forces.”

Adams said that homosexuals should not be allowed to teach in public schools.

“I wish they weren’t there,” he said. “But I know there’s nothing that can be done about it.”

Matt Nevels, president of the Chattanooga chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, said there is no inherent difference in the way heterosexual and homosexual teachers do their jobs.

“One of the myths of homosexuality, particularly about gay men, is that they are child sexual abusers,” said Nevels, a church educator. “The vast majority of child abusers are heterosexuals, not homosexuals.”

Adams, an outspoken supporter of displaying the Ten Commandments in government buildings, also helped arrange an auction of three Ten Commandments plaques to high bidders to help pay $70,000 in legal costs after a federal judge ordered their removal from county buildings.