The North Dakota Republican Party has
approved a resolution that describes LGBT people as “unhealthy and
dangerous.”
According to the
AP, GOP delegates approved dozens of party policy statements
during a mail-in election in the spring.
“LGBT practices are unhealthy and
dangerous, sometimes endangering or shortening life and sometimes
infecting society at large,” the resolution states.
The resolution also states that laws
that prohibit LGBT discrimination “grant protection to voyeurs who
wish to prey on members of the opposite sex” and lead to the
recruitment of youth into “their lifestyle.” It also claims that
research has shown that being LGBT is a choice.
Governor Doug Burgum, a Republican, on
Thursday criticized the resolution.
“As I've long said, all North
Dakotans deserve to be treated equally and live free of
discrimination,” Burgum said in a statement. “There's no place
for the hurtful and divisive rhetoric in the NDGOP resolutions.”
State Representative Josh Boschee, the
first openly gay candidate elected to the state legislature in North
Dakota, called the resolution “hurtful.”
“Statements like this by the majority
party don't help when it comes to workforce recruitment or retaining
the students we educate for 12-16 years,” he
said in a Facebook post. “We see a lot of people leave the
state because of bigotry like that.”