NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A Tennessee lawmaker said he is upset with an altered photograph of himself in a newspaper.

Video: Altered Photograph Upsets Lawmaker

Rep. Stacey Campfield sponsored a bill to ban teaching homosexuality and alternate lifestyles to public school children from kindergarten through eighth grade. He said he knew his bill would get attention, but that he was flabbergasted to see an altered picture of him in the alternative weekly newspaper the Memphis Flyer.

Campfield said he doesn't mind a little controversy. The Knoxville lawmaker once tried to join the black caucus.

So, when he championed the law to not allow homosexual and transgender teaching in elementary and middle school, he expected controversy, but not this much.

A photo in the Flyer shows Campfield holding a bumper sticker that says “Confederate Values.” It’s part of an online article on his sex orientation teaching bill, but the problem is that the picture is fake. It was altered from a picture taken six years ago at a Phil Bredesen and Van Hilleary debate.

“I think they should do a retraction. Put something possibly in their paper that says, ‘Hey. Here’s what we did: This is a doctored photo.’ There’s nothing in the photo that says this photo has been altered from its original state,” Campfield said.

Alternative weekly newspapers are known to be irreverent, daring and opinion pushing.

“You can’t manipulate a photo that was clearly one thing and make it something else without at least some sort of nod to the reader. We can be sarcastic and ironic and humorous, but we can’t lie to readers,” Nashville Scene Editor Liz Garrigan said.

Garrigan also said the Memphis Flyer went about it the wrong way.

What does the Memphis Flyer have to say about placing a fake picture next to a straight news article with no explanation?

“I guess our mistake was that we assumed people would know it was Photoshopped,” said Memphis Flyer Editor Bruce VanWyngarden.

Campfield said he wanted the picture down and an apology. By late that afternoon, the article and photo were replaced.