Jeffrey Sossa-Paquette is a Republican candidate running for the U.S. House of Representatives for Massachusetts' 2nd Congressional District.
He is also a gay man with two adopted children.
Sossa-Paquette was shocked to find out the GOP doesn't take too kindly to people like him.
The issue came up after The Boston Globe obtained emails showing Debbie Martell—a representative on the Republican State Committee—said she was "sickened" Sossa-Paquette and his husband had adopted children.
The whole situation is set to cause issues for the GOP in Massachusetts.
Sossa-Paquette and his husband, Julian, have adopted two children.
After the comments by Martell, Sossa-Paquette tried to go to the GOP chairman of the state, Jim Lyons. Lyons told Sossa-Paquette he was not going to get involved.
Some Republicans in the state have defended Sossa-Paquette and called on Martell to step down, including moderate GOP Governor Charlie Baker. For her part, Martell has not responded publicly about the emails and her comments.
Sossa-Paquette said of the situation:
"This does not represent the Republican Party that I've defended for the last 20 years of my life."
Commenters online responded this absolutely represents the modern Republican Party.
Sossa-Paquette learned of the remarks after a colleague showed him the emails.
The emails read:
"I heard he was a 'married' homosexual man, who adopted children. I was sickened to hear this."
When he confronted Martell about the emails, she responded:
"I am a Catholic who loves God and His Ten Commandments. I wish the best for every person in the world, including you!"
"What sickened me was that you adopted children."
"Children deserve a mom and a dad. That's how God designed marriage and the family."
Despite a number of GOP officials siding with Sossa-Paquette, many more are silent on the issue, causing division in the party in the state.
Which is to be expected if the last several decades of the GOP are anything to go by.
State Representative Shawn Dooley who is also on the Republican State Committee, sent out a resolution to the 80 member group calling for a condemnation of Martell's "hateful ideology". While over 30 members have signed, that is still less than half of the members.
Sossa-Paquette is currently running for a seat held by Democratic Representative, Jim McGovern. How this controversy will affect the campaign remains to be seen.
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