Via Think Progress comes the story of Tim Ravndal, who was just removed from his perch as President of the Big Sky Tea Party Association following his facebook comments allegedly advocating violence against gays:

On July 23, Ravndal declared his opposition to gay marriage in a Facebook status update. Another user replied: “I think fruits are decorative. Hang up where they can be seen and appreciated. Call Wyoming for display instructions.” Ravndal then responded: “Where can I get that Wyoming printed instruction manual?”

Wyoming, of course, was the site of the brutal slaying of University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard in 1998.

As news of Ravndal’s comments spread, it certainly didn’t take long for Montana Republicans to jump in and defend Ravndal’s comments. First up was Kristi Allen-Gailushas, the Republican nominee against Democratic State Representative Mike Menahan:

No matter what you guys say, Tim is a great American and Patriot. He does have a right to say what he wants. I know that he didn’t mean it, but in the heat of his anger with the ACLU might not have realized what he was saying. The people who are in the TEA party movement are called names all of the time. Racist, extreimest….you name it. Tolerance needs to be done on both sides especially the homosexual side. There isn’t any tolerance for people who have a different opinion than yours. If we say yes to gay marriage where does it stop? The people who want to have more than one spouse will be next and that is against the law. The definition of marriage is between a man and a woman, are we now going to change the definition?

Note to the Montana GOP: when a right-wing ally says something too offensive even for the Tea Party, that’s as good a hint as you’ll ever get that you shouldn’t follow them off the deep end.

Threats or calls for violence are never an acceptable response to normal political questions; accusing people of racism is not the same thing as suggesting they should be murdered; and the 1st Amendment does not guarantee anyone the right to keep their job as head of a political organization no matter what they say.

Ravndal at least seems to recognize these three ideas, as he’s walked back his original comments. Allen-Gailushas’s last word on the matter appears to be “The Gay community wants a war….they’ve got one!!”