‘EXACT WRONG DIRECTION’

North Carolina GOP Censures Senator Who Backed LGBTQ+ Rights

The censure vote occurred during the state’s Republican Party convention, where more than two-thirds of the 1,800 delegates voted to pass the resolution.

More than two-thirds of the 1,801 delegates at the North Carolina Republican Party’s convention on Saturday voted to censure U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, a moderate Republican who has backed LGBTQ+ rights and gun control policies, while breaking with his party on hardline immigration measures. “We need people who are unwavering in their support for conservative ideals,” Jim Forster, an 81-year-old delegate, told the Associated Press. “His recent actions don’t reflect the party’s shift to the right—in fact, they’re moving in the exact wrong direction.” Tillis, who took office as a U.S. senator in 2015, worked to pass the Respect for Marriage Act last year, which enshrined legal protections for same-sex and interracial marriages. He also briefly opposed former President Donald Trump’s plan to build a wall along the southern border, and backed funding for red flag laws, which allow officials to take firearms away from people they believe present an immediate danger to themselves or others.