Editor’s Note: Jim Lyons, the chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party, sent out a written statement through the party late Friday, June 4, 2021 addressing calls for a member of the Massachusetts State Republican Committee to resign over email messages she sent expressing disapproval of the adoption of two children by a same-sex couple, one of whom is running for Congress as a Republican.
The statement appears below, in full. The link is in the original.
Massachusetts Republican Party Chairman Jim Lyons issued the following statement regarding demands from Massachusetts House Republicans that an elected member of the Republican State Committee resign due to controversial emailed comments:
“The Massachusetts Republican Party has always welcomed every member of our society who embraces our values of freedom, liberty, personal responsibility, and free enterprise.
Likewise, the Massachusetts Republican Party rejects all forms censorship, and especially the ‘cancel culture’ mentality that exists today.
Members of the Massachusetts House Republican caucus are demanding that I force a woman of deep Catholic faith to resign from the Massachusetts Republican State Committee.
I acknowledge that she wrote in a manner that was offensive. However, Massachusetts Republican Party bylaws are clear: freedom of speech and religious liberty are values that are unbending and uncompromising.
My hope is that both individuals involved in this controversy can and will unite behind our shared values. My hope is that both individuals respect the fact that not everybody holds the same views, as each individual’s faith affects and shapes their beliefs. Not everybody views the world through the same lens.
We must respect both those who hold strong religious convictions, and we must respect those whose real-life experiences happen to contrast.
In the end, we must realize that the danger to our freedoms is real.
We as Republicans must not act as the far-left wants us to.
My hope is that Massachusetts Republicans will continue to stand for freedom, liberty, personal responsibility, free enterprise, and be unafraid to stand up against censorship and ‘cancel culture,’ in all of its forms.”
