Photo via @JeffreyCongress/Twitter
June 7, 2021, 1:04 pm
A Massachusetts Republican State Committee member is facing calls to resign from inside her own party after she directed hateful homophobic comments at GOP congressional candidate Jeffrey Sossa-Paquette, who is gay and raising two adopted children with his husband. The committee member, Deborah Martell, wrote in an email to her fellow Republicans that she was “sickened” to learn that the candidate had brought two children in need into his home.
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“I heard he was a ‘married’ homosexual man, who adopted children,” she said in the May 15 email. “I was sickened to hear this.”
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According to the Boston Globe, Sossa-Paquette was notified about these remarks and confronted Martell, threatening to make them public. Rather than apologizing, Martell doubled down on her homophobia.
“I am a Catholic who loves God and His Ten Commandments. I wish the best for every person in the world, including you!” she wrote to him in another email. “What sickened me was that you adopted children … Children deserve a mom and a dad. That’s how God designed marriage and the family.”
So Sossa-Paquette made it public.
While many Republicans have remained silent on the news of Martell’s unabashed bigotry, plenty of others have come forward to condemn her and say that they don’t want her or anyone so homophobic representing their party in any form. Massachusetts GOP Vice Chairman Tom Mountain reportedly formally asked her to step down from her position on the committee, warning her that she would likely move to censure her on June 9 for her comments.
“We don’t want someone who’s antigay on our state committee,” he said. “She made our party look really bad, and she did a bad thing. That’s the bottom line. The time for apologies has come and gone.”
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker has also called for Martell to resign.
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Martell has so far been silent since the calls for her resignation began. Republican Chairman Jim Lyons has also been notably quiet on this bit of infighting within his party, failing to defend Sossa-Paquette or condemn Martell. As a result, he is now also facing widespread pressure to resign from his post, including from 29 out of the 30 Republican members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
They expressed their displeasure in a strongly-worded letter warning that they are prepared to replace him if he does not act.
“If you will not assert your position as leader of this esteemed party and demand Ms. Martell’s resignation, then we call on you to resign as the Chair of the Party and allow for your replacement so that we may demonstrate to the people of the Commonwealth that within the Republican Party, Ms. Martell’s opinions are not ours and will not be tolerated,” they wrote.
Indeed, if there is one thing that Democrats and (most) Republicans can agree on, it’s that Martell is the one who is sickening.
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100% I grew up Catholic. It sickens me that anyone would deny a safe and loving home to a child in need. It’s a very hypocritical stance from an organization that covers up for pedophiles. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
— (((Liberty4All)))
Reinstate Me (@Yakekoge) June 1, 2021
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*First Published: June 7, 2021, 1:04 pm
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