Even conservative LGBTs shouldn’t drink the Texas GOP Kool-Aid
Hardy Haberman Flagging Left
The Texas Republican Party just had their state convention here in Dallas, and it is worth noting that they passed a new platform as well. For LGBT citizens it is a very important document.
The GOP of Texas passed a platform that is more parody that politics. The vehement rhetoric contained in this document should send a clear message to the folks claiming to be LGBT Republicans that they are not listened to and not wanted in the GOP.
I am speaking of the Log Cabin crowd and the even stranger GOProud group. I ask point blank: How can you support a party who writes this into their platform?
“Homosexuality — 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 our public education and policy, nor should ‘family’ be redefined to include homosexual ‘couples.’
“We are opposed to any granting of special legal entitlements, refuse to recognize, or grant special privileges including, but not limited to: marriage between persons of the same sex (regardless of state of origin), custody of children by homosexuals, homosexual partner insurance or retirement benefits. We oppose any criminal or civil penalties against those who oppose homosexuality out of faith, conviction, or belief in traditional values.
“Texas Sodomy Statutes — We oppose the legalization of sodomy. We demand that Congress exercise its authority granted by the U.S. Constitution to withhold jurisdiction from the federal courts from cases involving sodomy.”
For all the talk of changing the GOP from the inside that the Log Cabin Republicans use as their excuse for supporting that party, I fail to see how they have had any effect. This latest platform seems even worse than before. A giant step backwards — but I guess that is no surprise for the GOP.
As far as ENDA, well the Texas GOP made it pretty clear they don’t want any of them new-fangled equal rights laws: “ENDA — We oppose this act through which the federal government would coerce religious business owners and employees to violate their own beliefs and principles by affirming what they consider to be sinful and sexually immoral behavior.”
How about hate crimes? Well, the Texas Republicans have something to say about that as well and they wrap it in a paragraph cynically entitled “Equality of All Citizens”: “We urge immediate repeal of the Hate Crimes Law. Until the Hate Crimes Law is totally repealed, we urge the Legislature to immediately remove the education curriculum mandate and the sexual orientation category in said Law.”
Now lest you think this platform is damaging only to LGBT Texans, take heart. Anyone who works for a living is fair game as well. These two single-sentence planks made me shiver: “Workers’ Compensation — We urge the Legislature to resist making Workers’ Compensation mandatory for all Texas employers.”
And: “Minimum Wage — We believe the Minimum Wage Law should be repealed.”
Needless to say there are extensive planks about immigration and border security, and they include this little nugget, “The repeal of the birthright citizenship”: “Birthright Citizenship — We call on the Legislative, Executive and Judicial branches of these United States to clarify Section 1 of the 14th amendment to limit citizenship by birth to those born to a citizen of the United States: with no exceptions.”
This platform has something for everyone, or should I say against everyone. The politically astute will note that most of these changes seem to be a bow to the “tea baggers” and are simply appeasements that were never intended to be written into law. I suppose those professing to be LGBT Republicans would take this approach to reading this hate-filled document, but I think it is far more serious than that.
Writing off the party platform as inconsequential might work if you live with the cognitive dissonance that some people do. But the platform is the basis of decisions that will be made by legislators who are elected and it will be held up as a litmus test for any GOP candidate during an election.
So what is this all about? Well it’s about waking up and looking at the reality of the GOP in Texas.
The party has swung so far right it looks more like a fringe group than the mainstream. It’s time LGBT voters stopped deceiving themselves and realize the Republican Party has anything but your best interests at heart.
You can be fiscally conservative and still not drink this Kool Aid.
In fairness, I am a Democrat, and though the Democratic leadership has been disappointing in its movement forward on all LGBT issues, at least there has been some movement. Yes it’s not as fast as I would like, and yes, I criticize both my party and my president. But at least they do not believe I am somehow tearing at the moral fabric of the country by my mere existence.
So to my LGBT Republican brothers and sisters, I have to paraphrase a question from everyone’s favorite moose hunter, Sarah Palin: “How’s that whole change from the inside thing going for you?”
Hardy Haberman is a longtime local LGBT activist and a member of Stonewall Democrats of Dallas. His blog is at https://dungeondiary.blogspot.com.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition June 25, 2010.
As someone who is LGBT Republican, I’ll say it once and I’ll say it again… the Texas GOP is NOT my Republican Party. We have moved away from the issues of States Rights, the 2nd Ammendment of Freedom of such laws as Open Carry and Concealed Handgun License, we have moved away from the tougher punishment of criminals and the Death Penalty. Instead we have the Glen Beck attitudes that are forcefed dribbles out of Fox News, the Sarah Palin idiocracy where she couldn’t hit the broad side of an oil rig but somehow knows Foreign Policy. As most of the LGBT community knows the Republicans have gone far out into right field… and at this point they aren’t even in the game anymore they are somewhere standing around in the parking lot burning crosses into people’s lawns and trying to get their white sheets ready. This latest platform stance is to appeal to every religious wing nut in Rural Texas that exists, if you even consider yourself a moderate Repulican please vote “Democrat” or “Liberal” this election and send a message to those running that this kind of stance will not be excepted or tolerated. We have decided to pander to the Batshit Crazy Gary Busey’s of the world then to return to our roots. As Republicans we are a dying breed of people who believe more in individual freedoms than the socialized government that is being taught, the only problem with that is those Republicans currently in office are obviously suffering from Alzheimer’s and Dementia and no longer serve our needs or are even aware of what reality consists of anymore! Time to put such people as Governor Rick Perry, Attorney General Gregg Abbott, and other top Texas Officials in a retirement home!