Widespread Anti-LGBT Bigotry in State GOP Platforms
The Republican Party’s national platform, released Tuesday, and its planks don’t bode well for LGBT Americans. Republicans would continue to endorse the Defense of Marriage Act as well as a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage while arguing that advancement of rights "is an assault on the foundations of our society."
"This is more than a matter of warring legal concepts and ideals," the platform says of courtroom fights over the constitutionality of marriage equality. "It is an assault on the foundations of our society, challenging the institution which, for thousands of years in virtually every civilization, has been entrusted with the rearing of children and the transmission of cultural values."
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Other state platforms adopt a religious defense. Arkansas, Oregon, and Texas specifically mention God or “divine” ordinance as a reason to oppose same-sex unions. Whereas most states file their beliefs under a “Family” or “Marriage” heading, Texas devotes an entire section to the subject of “Homosexuality” that expands its justifications to include majority rule: “We affirm that the practice of homosexuality tears at the fabric of society and contributes to the breakdown of the family unit. Homosexual behavior is contrary to the fundamental, unchanging truths that have been ordained by God, recognized by our country’s founders, and shared by the majority of Texans. Homosexuality must not be presented as an acceptable ‘alternative’ lifestyle, in public policy, nor should ‘family’ be redefined to include homosexual ‘couples.’”
South Carolina, under a section titled “To Insure Domestic Tranquility,” reaffirms this reasoning and also “reject[s] the notion that marriage may legitimately be redefined based upon cultural preferences.” The Iowa Republican platform, meanwhile, advocates that the judges who helped create their state’s “so-called right to homosexual marriage” be impeached. The religious right partly succeeded in that effort in 2008 when it unseated three of those judges, and a fourth is targeted this year.
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