Colorado Libertarian Outed for Use of Slurs on Social Media
The current chair of the Libertarian Party of Colorado, Hannah Goodman, was outed earlier this month for using a colorful array of anti-gay and ableist slurs in private messages on one of the party’s official social media accounts.
She replied to a commenter critiquing the social media presence of the party through the official Facebook account for the Colorado Libertarian Party on April 11 and repeatedly called him anti-gay slurs as well as a slur for people with intellectual disabilities after he messaged the account criticizing the “asinine” posts and pointing out the party’s lack of success in the state. The commenter said that he felt Goodman’s initial responses were fine because he had gotten “sassy” in his criticism—However, he was shocked by the “grossly homophobic” escalation. The commenter does identify as a gay man, but has asked to remain anonymous so as to avoid being harassed further by the Libertarians or anybody else.
On April 12, the executive director of the Libertarian Party of Colorado, James Wiley, sent a seven-page-long statement to the Denver Post defending the party’s (objectively nonexistent) political relevance in the state, hammered down on the commenter further, and then stated that not only did Goodman author the messages, but he agreed with them. He referred to the meme Goodman created that spurred the commenter to make his remarks as an “artistic work product,” rounding off his statement with a quote from the animated adult television show South Park, demonstrating his highly-tailored and very mature critical thinking skills.
The simplest way to sum up Libertarian policy is that they’re socially liberal and fiscally conservative—However, based on this interaction as well as their stance alongside the Republican Party, the former seems to be becoming less and less true for Colorado Libertarians. In 2023, the Libertarian Party of Colorado and the Republican Party of Colorado reached an agreement where Libertarian candidates are not allowed to run in some races so as not to offset Republican votes, as long as the Republican candidates integrate some Libertarian policies into their campaign platform. This has led to Republican wins in tight races, such as the win of the 8th Congressional District’s Gabe Evans (R) last year.
For those looking for LGBTQ+ resources following the election and inauguration of Trump and bigots feeling safe in the wake of his inauguration, like these people do, see this article.
Photo courtesy of social media
