While negotiations over the Democratic platform were riddled with controversy over how far the party would go in its support of progressive climate and economic issues, the Republican platform, by contrast, takes a sharp rightward tack, particularly on social issues such as LGBTQ equality and reproductive rights.
Members of the RNC platform committee spent hours debating the draft document in Cleveland on Monday and Tuesday that will be considered by the full body later this week ahead of the GOP convention.
And while some reporting has focused on minor infighting, what emerged is a platform widely seen as discriminatory and hateful.
The 112 delegates voted overwhelmingly against a measure put forth by Washington D.C. delegate Rachel Hoff, the first openly gay member of the RNC platform committee, that would have acknowledged “a diversity of opinion within our party” in regards to same-sex marriage.
An amendment that sought to modify language that called for children to be raised by a married mother and father to alternately read “stable, loving home” was also rejected.
Instead, GOP committee members opted to include language, put forth by Tony Perkins, president of the anti-LGBT hate group Family Research Council, supporting so-called “conversion” or “reparative therapy,” which purports to “cure” homosexual inclinations through analysis and, frequently, prayer.
The approved platform language says parents should be allowed “to determine the proper treatment or therapy” for their children. Such a practice, the Southern Poverty Law Center said, has not only “proven to be fraudulent,” but “it can cause grave harm, up to and including suicidality. And it tears families apart.”
The latest draft also calls for a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell v Hodges decision, which ended all state bans on same-sex marriage. According to the Guardian, that “represented a notable shift from past years,” such as the 2012 platform, which more overtly “called for a constitutional amendment to legally define marriage as ‘the union of one man and one woman.'”
The subcommittee also approved a provision opposing the Obama administration’s recent guidance document advising schools how to avoid discrimination against transgender students, describing the advisory as “illegal and dangerous” as well as “alien to America’s history and traditions.”
Also caught in the Republican cross-hairs are women, particularly those who wish to exercise their right to an abortion.
SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT
