Openly gay MO Republican faces censure vote from Jackson County GOP over marriage amendment

Update: The censure resolution against state Rep. Chris Sander was ruled out of order at a Monday meeting.

The Jackson County Republican Party on Monday will vote on a resolution to censure an openly gay Republican state lawmaker for filing a proposed constitutional amendment that would redefine marriage in the Missouri Constitution from being between “one man and one woman” to “two individuals.”

The party’s censure vote, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at Tiff N Jay’s in Lee’s Summit, targets state Rep. Chris Sander, a Lone Jack Republican. The resolution also states that any member of the party could be censured for trying to define marriage as anything other than between a man or a woman.

“Marriage is valid as defined only between one man and one woman according to nature and nature’s God, and this truth is held by us to be self-evident and unalienable,” the party’s resolution says in part.

Missouri voters passed a constitutional amendment that barred same-sex marriage in 2004. That amendment was nullified in 2015 when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned statewide bans on same-sex marriage nationwide.

While the county party has no authority to remove Sander from office, the resolution would send a request to House Speaker Dean Plocher, a St. Louis Republican, for an official condemnation or further punishments. Plocher told The Star Monday that he would wait to see what the committee forwards to his office.

“We’ll have to work together as a caucus to reach some sort of conclusion if any action should be warranted,” Plocher said.

The resolution was filed by party committee member Dave Thomas from Grandview, according to a copy of the resolution obtained by The Star. Jackson County GOP Chair Mark Anthony Jones, who serves as the spokesperson for the party, did not return a call for comment Monday.

Jones, who was first elected party chair in 2014, touts himself as the first openly gay elected Republican county committee chairman in the country, according to his Linkedin profile.

Sander and LGBTQ advocates have decried the committee’s censure resolution as homophobic and hateful. Sander told The Star on Monday he has no plans to withdraw his legislation.

“I don’t believe people should have to leave Missouri in order to be married,” he said. “The debate needs to be had. If there are people that are hateful towards LGBT people, I think they need to be on record as being hateful. So I’m okay with them using me as an example of their hate.”

Sander’s constitutional amendment would have to be approved by a majority of Missouri voters, in addition to the General Assembly. It was in response to the “Respect for Marriage Act” signed by President Joe Biden late last year which enshrined same-sex and interracial marriage into federal law.

The federal law received support from members of both parties, including then-Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Missouri).

While federal law enshrines same-sex marriage, the Missouri Constitution still defines marriage as between a man and a woman under the amendment approved by voters in 2004.

“It is ridiculous that after all the progress we’ve made for marriage equality on a federal level, local municipal organizations not only feel empowered to discriminate against LGBTQ+ Missourians but to also uphold that hate by means of religious beliefs,” said Katy Erker-Lynch, executive director of PROMO Missouri, an LGBTQ advocacy group.

“We are appalled that Rep. Sander’s own party, in his own county district, is wrongfully targeting him for simply trying to uphold federal law and enshrine those protections to love and marry who you love within our state’s constitution. It is a clear sign that openly gay Republican legislators and LGBTQ+ members of the Republican party are not celebrated in their unions or free to love who they love in Jackson County.”