At a time when gays have been gaining victories across the country, the Republican Party in Montana still wants to make homosexuality illegal.
The party adopted an official platform in June that keeps a long-held position in support of making homosexual acts illegal, a policy adopted after the Montana Supreme Court struck down such laws in 1997.
The fact that it's still the official party policy more than 12 years later, despite a tidal shift in public attitudes since then and the party's own pledge of support for individual freedoms, has exasperated some GOP members.
"I looked at that and said, 'You've got to be kidding me,'" state Sen. John Brueggeman, R-Polson, said last week. "Should it get taken out? Absolutely. Does anybody think we should be arresting homosexual people? If you take that stand, you really probably shouldn't be in the Republican Party."
Sen. Brueggeman, the folks who voted on the Republican Party platform in June are your people. The Party spawned groups like the Tea Partiers, and now the kids are out of control. Good luck with getting the policies out of the Republican Party platform. You may have a fight on your hands. You reap what you sow.
Thanks to Cathy for the link.
"HOMOSEXUALS IN MONTANA SAY MAKE REPUBLICANISM ILLEGAL "?
ReplyDeleteSome of my best friends are Republicans, but I'd never let my cats marry one.
ReplyDeleteTexas, too
ReplyDeleteLovely country we live in, isn't it? I suppose the real news is when a Republican voices opposition to the anti-gay policies.
ReplyDelete"Some of my best friends" - you people!
ReplyDeleteLapin, you people need to know that some of my best friends ARE gay.
ReplyDeleteThe Republicans in Montana are very, very silly people. That's about the politest thing you can say.
ReplyDeleteWhy aren't they remembering Matthew Shepherd and what happened to him??
ReplyDeleteCathy, silly is far too polite for the like of them.
ReplyDeleteCiss, it's a damned shame that they don't, because forgetting makes it more likely that there will be another Matthew Shepherd.
Actually they do remember Matthew Shepherd and one of them made a public reference to "Wyoming knowing how to handle homosexuals." I'm not making this up, I live in Montana. I sense a solution, however, in the fact that our grizzly bears are coming down into towns because they don't have enough food. You can immediately sense where I am going with this . . .
ReplyDeleteOne of the reasons I use the word "silly" is because they also apparently want to make public handholding illegal for gay and straight couples alike:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pinknews.co.uk/2010/09/19/montana-republicans-want-to-make-homosexuality-and-straight-public-hand-holding-illegal/
Which is just completely "whoooooops, brain just left the building" stuff.
I hope you don't mind my posting the extra link, Mimi.
PS at least they're not discriminating against gay people with that one, I suppose.
ReplyDelete...one of them made a public reference to "Wyoming knowing how to handle homosexuals."
ReplyDeleteCanon G, why am I not surprised but only repulsed by the comment? Because when Billy Lucas committed suicide because of bullying, the memorial which his friends set up at Facebook received comments from people saying such things as they were glad he was dead.
As to your reference to grizzlies, if I let my imagination run wild, I can imagine all sorts of things.
Cathy, I don't mind the link at all. Whatever contributes to the discourse is welcome.
ReplyDeleteYes, that vile hand-holding has to go. Just think. You helping me, with my vertigo, walk the path and steps with no guardrails at the Isle of Staffa would be against the law.
People would be falling off cliffs in all directions!
ReplyDeleteI suppose hand-holding might lead to dancing. And we all know where that leads. Maybe that's their thinking.
ReplyDelete