Pro-Family Leader Questions GOP Judgment in Picking Davidson
by Chad Groening
February 7, 2005
(AgapePress) - An Ohio pro-family activist is blasting the Republican National Committee for selecting a former Ohio legislator who is pro-abortion to be the RNC's new co-chairperson.
Gregory Quinlan, executive director of the Pro-Family Network of Ohio, believes most Christians support the Republican Party because the GOP platform is one that supports pro-family ideals. He considers the Democratic Party platform to be "anti-God" and says the values that party supports "aren't my values and I don't think they're the values of most Christians."
In fact, Barna Group surveys do show that the majority of Evangelicals (59 percent) describe themselves as predominantly conservative. Also, the Christian research group has found that, among born-again Christian adults, 40 percent identified themselves as Republicans, while just 33 percent said they were Democrats, and only 14 percent considered themselves Independents. Among Republicans, the researchers found that most attend a Protestant church (71 percent) or a Catholic church (17 percent); and that 14 percent of Republicans could be identified as Evangelicals, compared to only 5 percent of Democrats that were identified as Evangelicals.
But while Quinlan says more Christians belong to the Republican Party because that party "tends to hold our values," he feels the RNC's new co-chair does not share the pro-family values of the GOP, which are pro-life, supportive of parents' rights, and conservative. "Joanne Davidson is none of that," the Pro-family Network spokesman says. In fact, he asserts, "As the Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, she was a puppet for the teacher's union, which in and of itself has traditionally been anti-family, anti-parent, and very socialist in makeup and policies -- and that was true of Joanne Davidson."
Also, Quinlan contends the former Speaker of the Ohio House was "homosexual enabling" and repeatedly stood in the way of legislation designed to keep marriage from being redefined to include homosexual couples in her state. "She helped ... keep the Defense of Marriage Act, not once but twice, from being passed," he says. "It never even left committee."
According to the Ohio advocacy group's executive director, Davidson is clearly anything but pro-family. "This woman does not represent the values of the rank and file of the Republican Party," he says. "So why does the Republican Party elite -- those who are in charge -- continue to insult us as if we're a slave on the plantation and we're going to do what they tell us to do, no matter what?"
Quinlan notes that Davidson also tried to add sexual orientation to an existing hate crimes bill, a proposal that he says was fortunately defeated. As the head of an organization that stands for and works to promote Christian family values by all lawful means before Congress, state legislatures, and other governmental bodies and officials, he questions the GOP's wisdom in putting a person with Davidson's apparently anti-family values anywhere near the helm of the RNC.
Chad Groening, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
