Texas LGBT Republicans have been barred from participating in the state’s Republican convention held next weekend in Fort Worth.
While gays are welcome to attend, their organizations are not allowed to have booths at the convention explaining their mission and participation in the state party. The party allegedly cited the state GOP platform, which condemns homosexuality. However, some of the anti-gay language was removed two years ago because it was redundant.
Log Cabin released a statement Thursday to denounce the party’s stance toward Texas Log Cabin and Metroplex Republicans.
“Overall, Log Cabin Republicans of Texas has found incredible support within the Republican party — Texans, like the rest of the country, are evolving on LGBT rights issues,” Log Cabin Republicans of Texas Chairman Jeffrey Davis said. “The Republican Party of Texas has even welcomed many of our members as delegates to the Texas State Republican Convention. However, the party has denied our several attempts to host a booth in the convention exhibit hall, citing archaic language in the party platform to support their actions. We deserve to occupy a booth just like anyone else, and it’s time that the Texas GOP’s hypocritical policies and procedures are replaced by new ones that match the general opinion of Texan Republican voters.
Their exclusion comes 16 years after Log Cabin was denied participation at state convention, which was documented in the mini-documentary On the Front Lines.
“It’s simply unconscionable that more than a dozen years since Log Cabin Republicans took the fight for gay equality against the homophobic fringe of the Party, the Texas State GOP still doesn’t get it,” LCR National Executive Director Gregory T. Angelo said. “We are your friends and neighbors; we are your colleagues and family members; above all else, we are loyal Republicans, and deserve a literal seat at the table at the Texas State GOP Convention.
“Make no mistake: This isn’t about disagreements we may have on civil marriage; this isn’t about the party platform — this is about an anti-gay wing of the party that hates gay people so much they can’t even stand to see us acknowledged as a necessary part of a winning Republican coalition. At a time when Democrats are working overtime to turn Texas from red to purple and then a vibrant blue, now is not the time for the politics of subtraction and division in the GOP; it is time for addition and multiplication. The Texas State GOP and its leadership ignore that advice at their peril.”
