DENVER — The fallout from the Colorado GOP’s anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric earlier this week continued Friday with state Republican leaders calling for party chairman Dave Williams to resign.
The latest denouncement came from the Jefferson County Republicans, who on behalf of “numerous Colorado Republican County Chairs, other county party officers, members of the Colorado State Central Committee in all 64 Counties, and many Republican candidates” called on Colorado GOP chairman Dave Williams to “immediately resign.”
The mounting backlash against Williams follows a blast email from the Colorado GOP that was signed by the chairman, in which the party accused the LGBTQ+ community of being “godless groomers” who want to harm children.
On its official profile on X, formerly Twitter, the Colorado GOP also called for the burning of Pride flags.
In a lengthy statement Friday, state Republican leaders decried the chairman’s behavior, which they said was “continually encouraging division instead of unifying the party" and added that the email signed by Williams “is not in alignment with the voices of over one million Republicans and Conservatives in the state of Colorado.”
“As County Republican Party leaders, the time has come for us to say we have had enough,” the statement from Jefferson County Republicans reads. “We are asking Mr. Williams to immediately resign his position as Chairman of the Colorado Republican Party. We urge him to step down to allow us to bring in a new Chair who will help build our party, support all our candidates and county organizations, and bring unity.”
The latest call for his resignation comes a day after an Aurora councilman said he was quitting the Colorado GOP in response to what he called the party’s “latest hateful stunt.”
Politics
Aurora councilman leaves Colorado GOP in wake of party’s anti-LGBTQ+ messages
"I want to be part of a party that stands for individual rights and personal responsibility and fiscal responsibility, and that's what Republicans used to stand for. And that's not what this party stands for anymore,” said Aurora Councilman Curtis Gardner.
The email blast has also drawn the ire of the president of the Log Cabin Republicans of Colorado, a conservative LGBTQ+ group, and Abe Laydon, a Republican and a Douglas County commissioner.
The Colorado GOP chairman — who is also running for Congress in Colorado’s Fifth Congressional District — told Denver7 Wednesday he will not make any apologies for putting his name behind that message.
“We make no apologies for saying God hates pride or pride flags as it’s an agenda that harms children and undermines parental authority, and the only backlash we see is coming from radical Democrats, the fake news media, and weak Republicans who bow down at the feet of leftist cancel culture,” he said in a statement.
Denver7 has reached out to Williams repeatedly so he can address the fallout within his own party to no avail.
