DAYTON, Ohio, January 20, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Republican National Committee (RNC) unanimously elected abortion rights and same-sex “marriage” advocate Jo Ann Davidson of Ohio as its new Co-Chairman Wednesday at the RNC Winter Meeting in Washington, DC.
Davidson acted as a board member for the abortion advocacy group Republicans for Choice since its inception in 1990. A statement on the group’s web site said, “We look forward to working with her to help make sure the concerns of pro-choice and moderate Republicans are heard within the Republican National Committee headquarters,” according to a January 13 New York Times report. The web site was no longer functioning at the time of this writing.
Ohio-based conservative Christian group, Citizens for Community Values, president Phil Buress told the Times, “How in the world can you have a vice chair of the Republican Party on such an important issue as this one be on the wrong side of the party platform?” Greg Quinlan, executive director of the conservative issues advocacy group Pro-Family Network of Ohio, said, “Joann Davidson is the wrong choice as the Republican National Committee co-chair because she does not represent the values of the rank and file of the GOP.”
Referring to the same January 13 New York Times article about Davidson, Quinlan commented, “Davidson claims that during her four-year tenure as Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, the gay rights issue ‘had not come up.’ Ms. Davidson is suffering from a lapse in memory. Legislation to add sexual orientation to the existing hate crimes laws in Ohio went down to defeat when three former homosexuals testified against the measure while Ms. Davidson was Speaker. She told her Republican caucus at that time that she supported the sexual orientation legislation, even though it was introduced by a Democrat.”
“Davidson’s memory loss becomes even more suspect with the Defense of Marriage Act in Ohio,” continued Quinlan.
“Not once, but twice, the measure was introduced and never had a vote in committee because, as Speaker, Ms. Davidson had the measure killed and is on record calling the legislation ‘unnecessary.’”
“Joann Davidson is not representative of the party at large but of the disconnected big tent elites, who think that the GOP can win in 2008 by becoming more like Democrats.”
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