Anti-Gay Protester Attempts to Burn Cereal Box in Protest -- Flaming Failure Ensues

These days, it seems that no political position in America is immune from having its share of adherents who are willing to do embarrassing things in the service of their beliefs. That is certainly the case with Michael Leisner, a 65-year-old opponent of gay marriage who decided to protest against General Mills cereal (a company that openly supports gay marriage) by burning a box of one of their products. On a lawn. With flammable grass.

The original Youtube video has had its embedding function disabled, but can be found here. Photographic evidence of the results follows:

 Mr. Leisner, the apparent victim of this self-inflicted embarrassment, has earned the fascination of the internet thanks to this stunt. The Smoking Gun describes Mr. Leisner this way:

On Michael Leisner’s YouTube page (Live4Chr1st) he can be seen attacking Representative Barney Frank and Bill Maher, while noting that President Barack Obama has “bent forward to accommodate the sodomites of New York.” He also makes reference to "gay perverts," "fierce faggots," and the "depraved, debasing debauchery of gay activists."

In an interview this afternoon, Leisner said that his son posted the video to YouTube and that he did not check to determine the legality of his blowtorch protest before arriving at General Mills a few days ago. He said that he believed the company’s lawn was “saturated” and that there was little chance of the fire spreading.

Leisner told TSG that he has previously taught the Bible on radio shows and has done “campus preaching with some notorious right wing Holy Ghost preacher types.” Asked if he thought law enforcement officials might want to speak with him about the General Mills protest, he replied, “I suppose it’s possible.”

Here is one of Mr. Leisner's more...interesting artistic ventures, via Youtube: