Richard Tisei, an openly gay, pro-choice Republican running for Congress in Massachusetts, has written to state party officials to ask them not to adopt the national party’s platform, particularly as it pertains to social issues, according to a report in the Boston Globe:
Tisei, a moderate who is openly gay, said the national platform “espouses beliefs that exclude many in our party, including myself.”
“As a ‘live-and-let-live’ Republican, my philosophy is that the government should get off our backs, out of our wallets, and away from the bedroom,” he wrote in a letter to state GOP chairman Robert A. Maginn Jr.
Tisei would be the first openly gay Republican elected to Congress as a freshman. Other openly gay Republicans who have served on Capitol Hill came out after being elected, and none have served in Congress since 2006.
The former state senator and GOP nominee for lieutenant governor in 2010 is endorsed by the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund.
UPDATE–10:32 pm: The Massachusetts Republican Party tonight voted not to adopt the national GOP platform after objections from moderates and input from federal candidates Sen. Scott Brown and Richard Tisei, who is seeking a House seat. The party could revisit the issue after the elections this November.
