Melvin Nimer, the president of gay GOP
group Utah Log Cabin Republicans, is vying for a seat in the Utah
Senate, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.
Republicans recruited Nimer after
Nancie Lee Davis was disqualified from the race for failing to file a
campaign financial disclosure.
Nimer will face Senator Ben McAdams, a
Democrat who is considered gay friendly, in the fall.
McAdams was appointed to the Senate
earlier this year after openly gay Senator Scott McCoy retired from
politics.
If approved by voters, the 60-year-old
Nimer would become the state's first openly gay Republican
legislator.
But Nimer said he doesn't believe
sexual orientation will become an issue in the campaign.
“More than anything else, what I'm
doing is giving the Republicans and independents an alternative to
vote for,” he said. “I bring a different viewpoint to this
stuff. I am a conservative Republican as far as limited government
and individual responsibility.”
The choice, however, has left many
scratching their heads. While the district, District 2, leans mostly
in favor of gay rights, Utah Republican legislators – in the
Statehouse and Congress – remain generally hostile toward gay
issues.