Montana elector, age 92, under fire for anti-gay comments

BILLINGS – A 92-year-old man casting one of Montana’s electoral votes has been criticized for his comments about gay people.

The Billings Gazette reported that elector Dennis Scranton suggested in a 2010 Facebook conversation that gay people should be hanged.

When Scranton spoke to the newspaper on Monday, it wasn’t clear whether he remembered the Facebook comments. Scranton also misstated his age twice and offered two different versions of how he became an elector.

He didn’t back away from his opinion about gay Montanans, however, saying he was “raised with good morals” and didn’t hear of anyone being gay until he joined the U.S. Navy.

State GOP Chairman Jeff Essmann said the remarks don’t represent the Republican Party, but says being an elector is a “ceremonial function.”