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Savage attracted significant controversy after an April 13, 2012 keynote speech on anti-bullying at the National High School Journalism Conference in Seattle sponsored by the Journalism Education Association and the National Scholastic Press Association. Savage said, "We can learn to ignore the bullshit in the Bible about gay people. The same way we have learned to ignore the bullshit in the Bible about shellfish, about slavery, about dinner, about farming, about menstruation, about virginity, about masturbation." Several students walked out of the presentation following these remarks, prompting Savage to state, "It’s funny, as someone who’s on the receiving end of beatings that are justified by the Bible, how pansy-assed some people react when you push back." Several conservative commentators and organizations condemned Savage's remarks as anti-Chrisitan bullying. JEA's executive director Kelly Furnas and NSPA's executive director Logan Aimone released a joint statement that said in part "We did not have a prior transcript or outline of Savage's speech...we wish he had stayed more on target for the audience of teen journalists," and "While some of (Savage's) earlier comments were so strongly worded that they shook some of our audience members, it is never the intent of JEA or NSPA to let students get hurt during their time at our conventions." GoProud, a national organization of gay conservatives, condemned Savages remarks as an "anti-Christian tirade". Savage issued an apology for using the term "pansy-assed," but defended his statements regarding the Bible.