Montana Republican party platform: Homosexuality should be illegal
Sat. September 18, 2010 11:36 PM by GoPride.com News Staff
Helena, Mont. -
Montana's Republican party has once again adopted a platform that includes this plank: "We support the clear will of the people of Montana expressed by legislation to keep homosexual acts illegal."
"I looked at that and said, 'You've got to be kidding me,'" state Sen. John Brueggeman told the Associated Press. "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."
The Montana GOP has adopted this anti-gay statement every year since 1997, when the Montana Supreme Court ruled that a ban on homosexual acts was unconstitutional.
The executive director of the state's GOP, Bowen Greenwood, said that it's still in the platform because no one has bothered to remove it.
He also said that many Montana residents still agree with it.
"There had been at the time, and still is, a substantial portion of Republican legislators that believe it is more important for the Legislature to make the law instead of the Supreme Court," Greenwood said.
"I looked at that and said, 'You've got to be kidding me,'" state Sen. John Brueggeman told the Associated Press. "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."
The Montana GOP has adopted this anti-gay statement every year since 1997, when the Montana Supreme Court ruled that a ban on homosexual acts was unconstitutional.
The executive director of the state's GOP, Bowen Greenwood, said that it's still in the platform because no one has bothered to remove it.
He also said that many Montana residents still agree with it.
"There had been at the time, and still is, a substantial portion of Republican legislators that believe it is more important for the Legislature to make the law instead of the Supreme Court," Greenwood said.