MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Sometimes removing his glasses to squint at the smallest print, state Rep. Arlon Lindner closely examined each of 28 panels that the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum sent to this YWCA to document the discrimination gays suffered at the hands of Nazis.

When he was done, Lindner told reporters he has no regrets for remarks he made in March that outraged some gays and African-Americans. He stressed that he believes the Bible teaches that homosexuality is a sin and “a perverted lifestyle.”

“I pretty much stand by what I said,” said Lindner, a Republican from Corcoran, Minn. “I don’t feel that I owe an apology to anybody.”

During the legislative session, Lindner was accused by Democratic legislators of ethics violations for saying that Nazi persecution of gays and lesbians is part of a “rewriting of history.” Lindner’s critics grew madder still when he said he didn’t want “to sit around here and wait until America becomes another African continent,” a reference he said applied to the spread of HIV and AIDS.

The way Lindner recalls those remarks — made in reference to his bill to repeal state human rights protections for people based on their sexual orientation — he was only trying to say that gays and lesbians never suffered to the extent that Jewish people did.

He came away from his tour convinced that he was right, although he said he was moved by what he saw and read in the exhibit, called “Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals 1933-1945.”

Still, the man who invited Lindner to take the tour isn’t so sure that the Christian conservative hasn’t softened his views.

Stephen Silberfarb, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, walked alongside the representative at every step through the display. The two exchanged remarks on topics ranging from Nazi leaders who were themselves gay to the propriety of anti-sodomy laws, which Lindner defended.

Silberfarb said he believes Lindner’s original comments implied he didn’t believe any persecution occurred.

“I think we’ve concluded today that it did happen, and to that degree I think progress has been made,” Silberfarb said.

He also gave Lindner credit for publicly touring the exhibit, saying it showed a commitment to the principle of civil debate.

For his part, Lindner showed up to the YWCA early and alone. He then made his way to the basement display where he patiently allowed reporters to attach microphones to his shirt before he began to read each panel, in order.

Though Lindner said little as he read, in the background his March comments could occasionally be heard, playing on a continuous loop on a monitor set up for the display.

The exhibit is a collection of drawings, photographs and original German documents detailing Nazi treatment of GLBT people. Local organizers pressed to attract the exhibit in the wake of press attention to Lindner’s comments.

It documents a campaign that resulted in the arrest of about 100,000 gay men — about half of whom were sent to prison. Thousands of those were sent to concentration camps, where an unknown number died. Those figures, Lindner said, support his original thoughts. “They go after 100,000. That’s a small number compared to 2 million,” he said, referring to estimates of the total number of German GLBT people.

When he was all done, in the drawl that gives away his Texas roots, Lindner said he plans to try again to push his bill and to do what he can do to “try to protect the family and children that are influenced by this.”

Said Lindner: “I’m a Christian and God knows us better than we know ourselves. And it’s in the Bible that homosexuality is a sin and it’s wrong and it’s a perverted lifestyle. I don’t try to go against my maker.”