The chairman of the Montana Republican Party committee that decided to remove its support for a ban on homosexual activity from its platform this week said state GOP officials only sought to avoid “confusion” — not signal a shift on gay rights.
The party had included in its platform a statement saying it “support[s] the clear will of the people of Montana expressed by legislation to keep homosexual acts illegal” since 1997, when the state Supreme Court struck down a ban on intimate homosexual contact.
According to state Rep. Keith Regier, who chaired the party’s crime committee at its convention last weekend that ultimately voted to remove the line, people were having a tough time getting the nuances of the law and subsequent court cases.
While the court’s decision in 1997 “addressed homosexuality between consenting adults,” Regier said in an e-mail, “it is still illegal with concern to solicitation, children, etc.”
“There has been confusion with this issue,” he said. “I felt the committee wanted to just remove the homosexual reference because of the confusion it caused as it was worded.”
But he added that “Removal of the reference to homosexual behavior does not mean Republicans condone that behavior.”
Montana Republican Party Director Bowen Greenwood told TPM earlier that he had not encouraged the committee to remove the plank, only to look for ways to simplify and shorten the platform. He declined to comment on whether dropping the line was good for the party’s image given changes in public opinion toward homosexuality.
“I run a servant office,” Greenwood said. “I work for Republican officeholders and I represent the platform they choose. I don’t tell them what it ought to be.”
Benjy Sarlin
Benjy Sarlin is a reporter for Talking Points Memo and co-writes the campaign blog, TPM2012. He previously reported for The Daily Beast/Newsweek as their Washington Correspondent and covered local politics for the New York Sun.
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