Many Republicans are moving to oust Williams as chair of the Colorado GOP after he sent an email attacking the LGBTQ community on June 3. The email, sent on behalf of the state party, said "God Hates Pride," linked to a video with the thumbnail "God hates flags," and referred to members of the LGBTQ community as "evil," "woke creeps" and "godless groomers" who seek to "harm" children.
One week later, the Republican leadership of a dozen counties has joined an effort to remove Williams as chair, a position he's held since March 2023. Nancy Pallozzi, chair of the Jefferson County Republican Party, says enough signatures have been collected to force a special meeting of the state GOP's central committee to vote on whether to expel Williams from his position.
"For Chairman Williams to be removed, 60 percent of the [committee] must vote in favor of his removal. Currently, we are confident that we will reach 60 percent," Pallozzi says in a statement. "The time has come for us to say we have had enough."
According to Pallozzi, the signatures will be submitted to Williams on Tuesday, June 11, with the following counties committing to the effort so far: Delta, Eagle, Elbert, Garfield, Huerfano, Jefferson, Las Animas, La Plata, Mesa, Otero, Pueblo and Teller. More counties are expected to join the list, she says.
"Messages of hate, bigotry and government control over people's lives are not Republican or Christian," says Republican Douglas County Commissioner Abe Laydon, a member of the LGBTQ community. "If you want to support kids, quit telling them that they're worthless for how God created them and encouraging them to kill themselves."
Once he receives the signatures, Williams will be responsible for scheduling the special meeting.
Despite this pushback from his party, Williams has doubled down on his anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. In an email sent to party members today, June 10, he said he makes "no apologies" for his remarks — which again called Pride Month "evil that is trying to indoctrinate children" and linked to a video that says the gender-affirming care movement is "Nazi-, Auschwitz-level awful."
"Sadly, we now have weak establishment Republicans who want to join radical Democrats and the press in defending this child-harming Pride Month agenda," Williams added in the message. "They are preparing to wage civil war within the Republican Party to defend transgender procedures for minors."
Williams threatened to release the names of the Republicans who signed the petition for the special meeting, saying, "We will be sure to publicize it and notify all convention delegates and their respective central committees of their support for Pride Month."
Splitting the Party
While Williams accuses his critics of fracturing the Colorado Republican Party, they argue that his repeated attacks against the LGBTQ community are doing just that.Since Williams's anti-Pride email of June 3, Republican candidates Valdamar Archuleta and Michael DiManna have both rejected the state party's endorsement in this month's primary election. Aurora City Council member Curtis Gardner left the party entirely, calling Williams's comments "hateful," "despicable" and indicative that "the Colorado GOP no longer stands for the issues that I care about."
Archuleta, a gay man who is president of LGBT conservative group Log Cabin Republicans of Colorado, says Williams's actions are alienating LGBTQ people and allies from the Republican Party, and fears that it will hurt the performance of GOP candidates in upcoming elections.
"This stain on our party can not be left unchecked," Log Cabin Republicans of Colorado said in a statement Monday. "Without action now, the Republican party in Colorado will be left with a hurdle it will continually have to jump over leaving us functionally impaired. .. .If Chairman Williams chooses not to resign, we ask the Colorado State Central Committee to remove him."
Log Cabin Republicans of Colorado has criticized Pride festivals for being too "adult" to allow children to attend, but now says that Williams's vitriol toward Pride Month and the entire LGBTQ community goes too far. Party members who have previously shared Williams's anti-transgender sentiments to various degrees have the same viewpoint.
Republican Representative Richard Holtorf — who fought to exclude transgender people from a resolution supporting gender equality — and Republican Senator Barbara Kirkmeyer — who has voted against numerous transgender-rights bills — have both called for Williams to resign.
"Under the leadership of Dave Williams, the message from the State GOP has been one of division fueled by hateful narratives," Kirkmeyer said in a post on X on Saturday. "His tactics are undermining our ability to lift up Colorado."
Dave Williams's Leadership
This is not the first (or second) time Williams has faced calls to resign since he was elected party chair in March 2023.Republicans have demanded Williams's resignation for using party resources to advertise his own congressional campaign in CD5; kicking a Colorado Sun reporter out of the GOP assembly; endorsing Donald Trump for president weeks before Coloradans had a chance to vote in the presidential primary; and endorsing candidates in local primary races, breaking the party's decades-long tradition of staying neutral.
The party has repeatedly found itself the focus of controversy for anti-LGBTQ sentiments under Williams's leadership. Last month, the Colorado GOP made national headlines for urging parents to pull their children out of public schools because the schools "turn more kids trans." Last year, Williams publicly reprimanded four local Republican politicians for defending a transgender Montana lawmaker who was banned from the Montana House floor.
While his most recent attacks target the transgender community specifically, Williams has a long history of homophobia in his political work.
He was impeached as student body president at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs in 2009 for discriminating against an LGBTQ student group by refusing to sign off on its funding request due to his "personal beliefs." As a state legislator, he voted in favor of a bill to ban gay marriage and against a bill to ban conversion therapy for minors.
Even while facing his potential removal as party chair, Williams seems unlikely to change. During a congressional primary debate on June 6, Williams said he doesn't "care what some Pride organizers think about what we're doing. ... What I care about is what the Lord has to say."
"If that costs me this election, if that costs me everything, so be it," he said.
