MINOT — In August 2022, I wrote a story about a Telegram chat group used by members of the North Dakota Young Republicans and other state activists that was filled with hundreds of hateful messages and slurs aimed at homosexuals, racial minorities and the LGBTQ community.

In one exchange of messages, Matt Evans, recently elected as chair of the NDGOP’s District 25, described Josh Boschee, then a member of the state House and openly gay, as a “degenerate clown.” Evans also described both Boschee and Fargo City Commissioner John Strand, who is also gay, as “alphabet soup creatures,” a slur on the LGBTQ acronym.

Ben Schirrick, then the president of the NDSU College Republicans, described a LGBTQ demonstration on campus as a “fag festival.”

This message group included candidates for the

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