Illinois Republican party chairman refuses to resign over same-sex marriage support
The Chairman of the Republican Party (GOP) in the state of Illinois has rejected calls for him to resign for supporting same-sex marriage.
In many ways his support echoed that of the British Prime Minister David Cameron who said “I don’t support gay marriage in spite of being a Conservative. I support gay marriage because I am a Conservative.”
Just like the Conservative back-benchers in the UK who oppose David Cameron’s support for equality, Republican politicians have condemend Mr Brady’s support.
“I was shocked,” Republican State Senator Jim Oberweiss said: “Very surprised. Did not expect that and didn’t know why he would have done that.”
Republican State Senator Dave Syverson said: “His role as chairman should be to concentrate on uniting the party, and not dividing the party.”
On Friday, Mr Brady stood by his support saying: “If people want to throw me out because I took on an issue of discrimination [as] the chairman of the Republican Party, the party founded by Abraham Lincoln, then that’s – that’s up to them and they’re free to do it. But I’m not backing down.”
This week, UKIP (the United Kingdom Independence Party), a right-wing minor political party caused controversy by sacking the chairman of its youth wing for supporting same-sex marriage. It also forced a Parliamentary candidate to resign for saying that gay people should have the same rights as straight people.
The anti-gay National Organization for Marriage (NOM) has offered $250,000 of funding to kick Republican politicians out of office who support same-sex marriage equality in Illinois.
