Item: Boise rallies against anti-gay bullying/Jody May-Change, Boise Weekly

More Info: BSU student Justin Baxter described the years of bullying and taunting he endured in both middle and high school in Sandpoint, Idaho. Walking home one day after a bullying incident in his gym class locker-room, Baxter was struck in the head with a glass bottle. He fell unconscious to the grown breaking his nose as his attackers kicked him. “People do no understand what it is like to be in that kind of darkness,” said Baxter. But his message included some optimism. “I am happy that I am here today to tell you from the bottom of my heart to stick in there.”

Question: Do you believe bullying against gays is epidemic?

In this April 7 AP file photo, Tim Ravndal waves an American flag while holding a copy of the Constitution as Jim Walker speaks to the crowd through a blow horn outside the state Justice Department in Helena, Mont. (AP Photo/Independent Record, Lisa Kunkel)

Members of the Big Sky Tea Party Association strongly defended former president Tim Ravndal at the group’s meeting Tuesday night following what many called his unfair and hasty ejection from the group over a casual conversation on Facebook that appeared to treat violence against gays lightly. At a frequently contentious meeting, many of the approximately 30 members in attendence blasted acting board chairman Roger Nummerdor and chairman Jim Walker — absent because he’s hunting in the Crazy Mountains — for stripping Ravndal of his position and membership without giving him a chance to defend himself, and for announcing the move to the press over the Labor Day weekend/Sanjay Talwani, Helena Independent Record. More here.

Question: What do you make of this new development?

The president of the Big Sky Tea Party Association has been removed from his position and booted from the party after coming under fire for a post he made on his Facebook profile that implied he condones violence against homosexuals. Tim Ravndal was removed as president of the local chapter Sunday after the group’s board of directors learned of his volatile post on the online social networking site, according to Roger Nummerdor, the former president and a current board member of the group. Nummerdor also said Ravndal is no longer welcome in the party/John Doran, Helena Independent Record. More here. (AP file photo for illustrative purposes)

Question: What do you make of the strong action taken by the Big Sky Tea Party after president Tim Ravndal seemed to condone violence against gays?