A huge reaction hit the Colorado Republican Party after it sent an anti-LGBTQ+ email to its members and then went even further by saying Pride flags should be burned.
The Denver Post says that on Monday, June 3, the Colorado GOP sent out an email with the subject line “God hates pride.”
There was anti-LGBTQ+ language in the email body, including calls for LGBTQ+ equality backers to be “godless groomers,” according to a local ABC affiliate station Denver7. There was also a video of a pastor talking about similar topics. According to the Post, the thumbnail of the video also says, “God hates flags.” This is likely a reference to the Westboro Baptist Church, which went viral years ago for having signs with anti-LGBTQ+ slurs on them.
The email was signed by Dave Williams, the chairman of the Colorado GOP. Williams is a former state lawmaker who is now running for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives with Trump’s support.
The Colorado GOP then shared a post on X (formerly Twitter) that asked Republicans to “burn all the #pride flags this June.” These flags were taken down in June.
Right away, Republicans, Democrats, and independent groups spoke out against it.
A Colorado group that supports LGBTQ+ people called Rocky Mountain Equality told the Post that Williams’ speech was “harmful” and “extremist.”
“Some groups would still try to wipe us out if they could,” Rocky Mountain Executive Director Mardi Moore told the news source. “Pride Month is a time for the LGBTQ community to celebrate who we are and find community with others.” “We know that these extremist groups don’t speak for all Coloradans, but that doesn’t make things like the Republican Party’s call to burn Pride flags or the anti-LGBTQ activists’ words that are leading efforts to get hateful measures on the November ballot any less harmful.”
This was also said by Valdamar Archuleta, who is in charge of the state office of the LGBTQ+ group Log Cabin Republicans.
“I think the worst thing in there was the video they embedded into the email which was titled ‘God Hates Flags’ because of the obvious reference to the Westboro Baptist Church,” Archuleta said. “It looks really bad. This message is very bad. This is only making things more complicated and exclusive, which is not at all who we are as Republicans.
The outlet also said that Archuleta turned down a support from the Colorado GOP as he runs for Congress in the 1st District after making comments against Pride.
“Seeing that this endorsement came from the group of people who sent out that email — I’m just talking about the few people who are in the state party at the top — it was not something that I wanted to represent myself or my campaign,” said Archuleta.
Democrats in Colorado, including Shad Murib, the party’s chair, said that Williams’ email was full of “bigotry,” according to the Post.
The email was made public on Monday. Murib wrote in an X post that until they show some courage and reject this, “we will assume that the CO GOP is speaking for [the state’s Republican elected officials] and all GOP nominees, and we’ll make sure CO voters know it.” “There’s no more room for this.”
A lot of people in the Colorado Republican Party, including county leaders, have asked Williams to step down. People on Facebook were told in an open letter that “a very divisive email message was sent that does not represent the views of over one million Republicans in the state of Colorado.”
Williams, on the other hand, has not changed his mind. He told both news sites that he stands by his views that are against LGBTQ+ people.
“We make no apologies for saying God hates pride or pride flags as it’s an agenda that harms children and undermines parental authority, and the only backlash we see is coming from radical Democrats, the fake news media, and weak Republicans who bow down at the feet of leftist cancel culture,” he wrote in a statement.
