Texas Senate conventions are Saturday, and Equality Texas has drafted five resolutions for the Democratic Party and one for the Republican Party to consider.
Equality Texas is encouraging people attending to the conventions to print out and submit the resolutions,
“To ensure that resolutions reach the state convention (June 7-9 for the Democrats) and are adopted, it is important to get as many people as possible to submit the same resolution at each level of the process,” the group writes in an action alert.
Of the five resolutions for the Democratic Party, Equality Texas Deputy Executive Director Chuck Smith said the resolution encouraging nondiscrimination legislation based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression is at the top of the list for moving forward.
“Everyone needs a job and everyone needs to be able to keep a job without being discriminated,” he said.
The nondiscrimination resolution was submitted in 2010 with the anti-bulling resolution, unlike the marriage equality resolution, which Smith said has never been submitted for consideration since Texas’ marriage amendment in 2005 that prohibited same-sex marriage.
While adding marriage equality to the national Democratic Party’s platform has been debated if it will help or hurt the party, Smith said a lot has changed in Texas since 2005.
“The Texas Democratic Party says it stands for equality, and [marriage] is a part of that,” he said.
The other Democratic resolutions include one advocating for birth certificates with the names of both same-sex adoptive parents and one urging legislation for Texas universities to provide comprehensive benefits regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, disability, citizenship and sexual orientation.
Equality Texas’ resolution for the Republican Party to consider would remove all “negative references” to LGBT people in the party’s platform because it’s “offensive and deeply hurtful” for Republicans who have gay family members and alienates the gay Republican vote, according to the resolution. Negative wording would be removed from the party’s 2010 platform’s anti-gay views on marriage, adoption, child support and visitation, and gays in the military.
Despite the resolution having little chance of passage, Smith said that there needs to be a “starting place because the language in the current Republican Party platform is pretty homophobic and transphobic.”
Dan Graney, president of the Texas Stonewall Democratic Caucus, released a statement earlier this month outlining the importance of the LGBT community to become delegates for the Texas Democratic Convention to help have their input heard, Q San Antonio reports.
Smith said “civic engagement is a good thing,” regardless of what party it is affiliated with.
To find the location of Democratic Party conventions, go here. For Republican Party conventions, go here.
Equality Texas 2012 Resolutions for the Texas Democratic Party:
Resolution Supporting Nondiscrimination Legislation
Resolution Supporting Accurate Birth Certificates
Resolution Supporting Competitive Insurance Benefits
Resolution Supporting Marriage Equality in Texas
Resolution Supporting Marriage Equality in the State Party Platform
Proposed Platform Plank on Marriage Equality
Equality Texas 2012 Resolutions for the Texas Republican Party:
Resolution Supporting Non-Discrimination for All Texans
