The North Dakota Executive Committee
has disavowed portions of the North Dakota Republican Party's policy
platform that describes LGBT people as “unhealthy and dangerous.”
North Dakota 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,
criticized the resolution, calling it “hurtful” and “divisive.”
According to CBS affiliate KXNET.com,
NDGOP Chairman Rick Berg apologized in a statement, saying that the
committee had voted to disavow the resolution's language.
“Today, the NDGOP Executive Committee
took decisive action to oppose resolution 31 by voting to disavow its
harmful and divisive language. As leaders of the state party, we
would like to offer a sincere apology for the inclusion of these
unacceptable, hurtful sentiments as part of our official business,”
Berg
said.
State Representative Josh Boschee, the
first openly gay candidate elected to the state legislature in North
Dakota and a Democrat, also criticized the resolution's language.
“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.”