Alphonso David
Comparing party platforms shows Dems support for equality
Tammye Nash | Managing Editor
nash@dallasvoice.com
With both the Democratic and Republican national conventions now complete, and the 2020 presidential election entering its final stretch, a look at each party’s platform leaves little if any question which of the two major parties offers the most support for LGBTQ Americans, representatives from two national LGBTQ organizations said this week.
Democrats formally adopted their party platform during their virtual convention held Aug. 17-20, at which they officially nominated former Vice President Joe Biden as the party’s presidential candidate and Sen. Kamala Harris as his vice presidential running mate. The platform, drafted and approved by the platform committee in June, pledges support for full LGBTQ equality.
The GOP, however, announced in June that because of the difficulties of trying to stage the convention during the COVID-19 epidemic, that the party was choosing to forego a new party platform. Instead, the Republican National Committee’s Executive Committee voted in June to adopt the same platform used in 2016, and on Aug. 22, the RNC adopted a resolution reiterating that the party would not adopt a new platform and pledging the party’s continuing support for Trump’s “America First agenda.”
That recycled platform includes a number of anti-LGBTQ planks and, according to Politico, isn’t satisfactory to either the party’s more conservative members, who “wanted new language of gender identity and late-term abortion,” or more moderate factions who worry the platform’s more extreme planks will “alienate suburbanites.”
“This year, the stakes for our movement could not be higher as we face the most important election of our lives,” Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David said via video, adding that the Democratic Party’s 2020 platform is “the most pro-LGBTQ agenda” in the party’s history.
Elliot Imse
Elliot Imse, senior director of communications for Victory Fund, agreed. “The Democratic Party platform is the most pro-LGBTQ platform ever adopted by any major American party,” Imse said. “It calls for full equality not just for LGBTQ people in general, but full equality for transgender people, for LGBTQ people of color, for LGBTQ people with disabilities, for LGBTQ children and LGBTQ parents — for ALL LGBTQ people.”
Imse continued, “Every policy and every piece of legislation these politicians promote and pass and sign into law affects the LGBTQ community in some way because our community is so diverse. When you look at this platform, it proves that the Democratic Party is clearly on the side of equality, and is not shying away from that in public or in private.”
The GOP’s 2016 platform, Imse noted, explicitly opposes legal recognition of same-sex marriage, despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling, explicitly opposes allowing same-sex couples to adopt and explicitly supports conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth.
“Even though there are fair-minded Republicans — both voters and elected officials — the party itself has declared itself to be anti-LGBTQ,” Imse said. “Before the Trump administration, there were a number of Republican elected officials at the federal and state levels that were willing to embrace some LGBTQ issues. But now, Trump has completely taken over the party.
“There may be some [in the party] who are trying to argue that Trump isn’t anti-LGBTQ,” he added. “But their party platform is entirely clear, and it is anti-LGBTQ. There is literally nothing to debate. Unfortunately, we are at a place in American politics where there really is only one party that supports equality.”
What the Democratic Party platform says on LGBTQ issues
A search of the 2020 Democratic Party Platform shows that the acronym LGBTQ+ appears 30 times — not counting two mentions in the table of contents — beginning in the document’s preamble, which pledges that the party will “give hate no safe harbor,” will “never amplify or legitimize the voices of racism, misogyny, anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim bigotry or white supremacy.
“Democrats will,” the documents continues, “protect and promote the equal rights of all our citizens — women, LGBTQ+ people, religious minorities, people with disabilities, Native Americans and all who have been discriminated against in too many ways and for too many generations.”
The platform specifically includes LGBTQ equality in its pledges to fight employment discrimination, homelessness and racial, gender and health inequalities. It also condemns the Trump administration’s “discriminatory actions against the LGBTQ+ community, including the dangerous and unethical regulations allowing doctors, hospitals and insurance companies to discriminate against patients based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.”
The platform pledges that Democrats will “take action to guarantee that LGBTQ+ people and those living with HIV/AIDS have full access to needed health care and resources, including by requiring that federal health plans provide coverage for HIV/AIDS testing and treatment and HIV prevention medications like PrEP and PEP, gender confirmation surgery and hormone therapy.”
One plank in the platform is dedicated specifically to protecting rights that the LGBTQ community has already won and calls for passage of the Equality Act to “outlaw discrimination against LGBTQ+ people in housing, public accommodations, access to credit, education, jury service and federal programs.” It also promises the party will work to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination in foster care and adoption programs, to protect LGBTQ youth from bullying and to “guarantee transgender students’ access to facilities based on their gender identity” as well as making sure LGBTQ seniors are included in federal programs.
The Democrat party is already a Marxist/Communist/Socialist party.
Those who preach about being tolerant are only as tolerant when the person agrees with them. Try speaking to a BLM or Antifa member and go against their belief, and watch what happens, as we’ve witnessed on the nightly news in cities run by Democrat mayors or governors. Neither of these groups cares about your plight or what you want. They are the party that approves of abortions up-to and including the birth of an infant. In VA and VT, infanticide is now legal.
Democrats will tell you anything to get your vote. They have done this for many decades to black voters. Promising them everything and delivering none. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are the ‘Uncle Toms’ for the Democrat party. These two are nothing but instigators. It has worked for years, up until President Trump won the election in 2016. Now black voters see REAL HOPE and CHANGE in America for them. Nearly 38% of black voters directly identify with Donald Trump’s America. The lowest unemployment rate for blacks, Hispanics, and Asians. Even the Navajo nation of American Indians has come out in support of President Trump. These races all see the good he has done for America.
Now the democrat-socialist party is pulling out all the stops to garner the black vote. They want to push for ‘reparations.’ Why didn’t the democrats ever do anything when they controlled both House and Senate in the early years under President Obama? Why didn’t they listen to you then? They held all three branches of government, yet NEVER did anything…until now. So what is different NOW? Oh…it’s because Trump is in office, and has made considerable strides to bring America FIRST in the world again. Former VP and now candidate Biden was caught on camera telling the Ukrainian government if it did not fire the prosecutor investigating his son, Hunter Biden, then the 3 billion dollars promised would be withheld. He even laughed after saying those words. Later the prosecutor was fired, and Ukraine received their 3 billion dollars. Talk about corruption.
The stakes are high for this election, and the Democrat-Socialist Party knows it. They are pulling out all the stops. Cities with a democrat leader at the helm, such as Seattle, Portland, NYC, and even the mayor of Chicago, a Lesbian, had police officers blocked off her street when rioters threatened to come to her home.
Marxists (like Patrice Cullers with BLM), Bernie Sanders a Communist, or AOC a Socialist, then I suppose the Democrat-Socialist party is for you.
I refuse to succumb to those on the left who seem to think ‘platforms’ matter. They do not. All I seem to hear from some within the LGBTQ community is the ‘WHAT ABOUT ME’ syndrome.
If you want to drive home a message, use this one from John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, and a different democrat than we see today, who said, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” So many left-leaning liberals seem to think this nation owes them something. IT DOES NOT. You have been born into one of the greatest nations on earth. Be thankful for the freedoms you take for granted. I believe that message is lost because we were born here. We did not have to fight for our freedoms. We had those who served and died since the beginning of our nation. Each of the men and women who served in this nation’s military thought more about their country than themselves. We all should remember it. There are several countries without ANY protection for the LGBTQ community. They kill gays for merely being gay. Something we all must remember. Thank God above, we do not live in that kind of nation.
Finally, don’t be misled by deception. What policies did you walk away from during the DNC (if you watched it)? They did not offer ANY! That should tell you everything you need to know. The current poll numbers show for the first time; democrats are trailing in states held by Democrats for decades. Even some long time Democrat politicians have changed their party to Republican and vowed they would vote for him in November.
This election is not about platforms. It is about what it means to be an American and a Patriot.
Thank you, Lee.
Well said. I’ve pretty much lost all of my gay “friends” over politics. They’re hopelessly brainwashed. Let’s be honest, this is not about Democrat vs. Republican. Almost all politicians are puppets. They are controlled through blackmail, bribes and threats to carry out the agenda of the “elite”. The deep state, if you will. These people are not loyal to any country or any party and they own literally everything. They have infiltrated every aspect of society. They did it slowly, over decades. Their biggest wins were the take-over of Education and Media. Control what people think, control their perception and that’s 90% of the battle.
That said, their preferred political channel has always been the democratic party. It’s amazing how these die-hard democrats, who claim to be to want justice for women, blacks and other minorities, have forgotten that the democrats overwhelmingly voted AGAINST freeing the slaves, overwhelmingly voted AGAINST civil rights in the 60’s, overwhelmingly voted AGAINST women’s right to vote. Not to mention, the KKK had it’s genesis in the democratic party of the south. Somehow, that’s all forgotten and or forgiven. If you think the ideology has changed, you’re mistaken.
And the ones who “support” gay rights, are pretending. Let’s not forget Hillary was opposed to gay marriage for YEARS, until she actually had a chance at becoming president. Then it suddenly became advantageous for her to support it. Joe Biden is still against it.
These people do not care about you. It doesn’t matter what color you are, what religion, or what your sexual orientation is. That’s irrelevant. All they care about is staying in power to complete the take-down of the country and they’re willing to do anything to accomplish their goal.
BLM is a sham (front for funding the democratic party). Antifa is a paid mercenary goon squad. None of this is organic. It’s highly organized and paid for by people behind the scenes who want the constitution of this country in shreds.
And lest you be fooled, those of you who support this agenda are nothing but useful idiots. You are “free publicity” for the agenda of the state. But make no mistake, if “The State” ever truly takes power, you and your ilk will be the first ones that are lined up and shot. Do you think that’s insane? An exaggeration? Then you know nothing of history
People have been lied to, on a massive scale, for decades. Nothing works the way you think it does. NOTHING WORKS THE WAY YOU THINK IT DOES.
But the tide is turning. More and more people are waking up to the lie. They are realizing something is wrong with all of this. The media tries to paint this small, radical faction of society as the majority. As if this is the everyday American is on board with all of this “social justice”. But the opposite is true. The vast majority of Americans are tired of what they are seeing. They may not have the media bull horn to back them up, but they are out there.
They are the majority – by a HUGH margin, and they will make their voices heard on November 3rd.