Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperFemme
Montana Tea Party President Condones Violence Against Gays in Facebook Post Supporting Traditional Marriage
This seems to have been posted in late July, but several people have brought it to my attention today. Tim Ravndal, the President of Montana's Big Sky Tea Party Association, expressed his views that marriage should be between a man and a woman in a Facebook posting. The post was in response to an ACLU lawsuit in Montana brought by seven gay couples who want to get married.
Then Ravndal expressed support for a commenter who (in apparent reference to the Matthew Shepard murder) said, "I think fruits are decorative. Hang up where they can be seen and appreciated. Call Wyoming for display instructions."
Answered Ravndal: "Where can I get that Wyoming printed instruction manual?"
In related news, the Montana GOP Platform calls for making homosexual acts illegal
http://www.towleroad.com/2010/09/mon...%23gay+news%29
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The Montana Tea Party's reaction to this:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 5, 2010
Jim Walker, Board Chair of the Big Sky Tea Party Association announced today that the group’s Board of Directors voted to remove Tim Ravndal as President and member of the non-profit organization because of unacceptable comments made on his personal Facebook account.
Walker stated: “Our Board learned about the situation from an article in the Great Falls Tribune on Saturday. We immediately called an emergency meeting for the following morning. We are extremely disappointed by Mr. Ravndal’s commentary. The discussion in that Facebook conversation is entirely outside the position of the Big Sky Tea Party.
Even though Mr. Ravndal was having a personal conversation and made no reference to our group, we felt strongly that swift and decisive action was required as we can not accept that sort of behavior from within our membership, let alone from an officer of the corporation. We continually make it known that we will not tolerate bigoted dialog, behavior or messages at our functions, our meetings or within our ranks. If a person demonstrates bigotry relative to race, sex, ethnicity, etc they are not welcome in our organization. The Tea Party movement is about standing up for individual freedom for everyone.
I do believe Mr. Ravndal when he explained that he was in no way intending to promote violence and that he was not thinking about nor condoning the murder of an innocent victim in Wyoming in 1998 when he responded to some very disturbing comments made by another individual. However, no matter how we considered the commentary, it was clear to us that he was participating in conversation which was overtly bigoted and we cannot have an officer of our corporation engaging in such behavior.”
Walker indicated that as Chairman of the Board, he will oversee activities of the organization until a replacement for the office of President can be identified and approved.