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The head of Colorado's Log Cabin Republicans, Valdamar Archuleta, is defending the GOP chair who sent a campaign email calling LGBTQ+ people "godless groomers."
A gay Republican is standing by his party after the Colorado GOP called LGBTQ+ people "godless groomers."
The state's GOP recently sent out a campaign email that referred to the queer community as "barbaric," "creeps," “degenerates,” "godless," "groomers," "predators," “radicals,” and “reprobates." The message also linked to a sermon from Pastor Mark Driscoll, which proclaimed in the video thumbnail "God hates flags," wordplay on a popular conservative slogan that uses a derogatory slur.
"The month of June has arrived and, once again, the godless groomers in our society want to attack what is decent, holy, and righteous so they can ultimately harm our children," the email stated
The head of Colorado's Log Cabin Republicans, Valdamar Archuleta, has since defended GOP Chair Dave Williams, who sent the email, telling Denver journalist Kyle Clark that he believes Williams was just trying to mimic former president Donald Trump's personality.
"I do not think Dave hates me because I'm gay. I don't think that Dave is a homophobic person," Archuleta said. "What he said in that email was, but he as a person I don't believe is. He's trying to get a reaction."
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Archuleta, who has renounced the party's endorsement for his race in Colorado's first congressional district, added that the party's messaging hurts candidates like himself running in blue districts, or districts that could go either way. His "primary concern" was not the harm done to LGBTQ+ people, but the fact that the message "does not represent the party well."
"It's bad optics. ... That's something that I think that the Christian community should look at, especially with Republicans, and they should be offended," he said.
When asked if he would consider leaving the party due to homophobia, Archuleta said "I would leave," but only "if it did get to the point where I felt like this was something that was widespread throughout the community of Republicans."
More than 550 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced across the U.S. in 2023, and 80 were passed into law, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Just halfway through 2024, 515 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced, with 34 passed into law, the overwhelming majority introduced and approved by Republicans.
