Erin Moore
A marriage equality plank was added to the Texas Democratic Party’s platform during this weekend’s state convention in Houston. QSanAntonio has the full text of the marriage equality plank:
“Texas Democrats join President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden in calling for and affirming equal rights including marriage equality for all Americans. We, along with our President and Vice President, recognize that same sex marriages should be valid and legal in America.
“Texas Democrats support President Obama and the United States Justice Department in recognizing that the Federal Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional and in refusing to defend DOMA in any Federal Court proceeding. We call for the total repeal of DOMA.
“Eight states and the District of Columbia have now recognized marriage equality and have legalized same sex marriages.
“Texas Democrats support the full inclusion of all families in the life of our state, with equal respect, responsibility, and protection under law, including the freedom to marry. Government has no business putting barriers in the path of people seeking to care for their family members, particularly in challenging economic times. We support the repeal of the Federal Defense of Marriage Act, the Texas Defense of Marriage Act and the Texas Constitutional Marriage Amendment and oppose other attempts to deny the freedom to marry to loving same sex couples.”
Erin Moore of Dallas, outgoing vice president of the Texas Stonewall Democratic Caucus, reportedly was instrumental in getting the marriage equality plank added as a member of the platform committee. The party also reported added a plank to the platform on adoption which states, “We support adoption of children by loving, qualified parents regardless of marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression, and the rights of families created by those adoptions.”
Awesome convention for the LGBT community and lots of work remains to be done. Congrats to Erin Moore who spent hours working hard on the platform committee.
too bad the whole story isn’t being supported. in the may SDEC meeting, the executive committee voted down allowing a marriage equality plank to be included in the RECOMMENDED (endorsed) planks for voting at the convention.
COURAGE is standing up before it’s popular (not that i won’t take what we’re given…)
David is correct – however several of the SDEC members who voted down the marriage equality referendum recently were not re-elected.
There is a big turnover in the newly elected SDEC beginning on July 1st and the GLBT community won an increased number of seats on the SDEC at the recent State Convention. Erin Moore and Eli Olivarez are to be congratulated for their hard work seeing these changes in language got through the Platform Committee. Their efforts made a real difference and I’m proud to call them friends.
I was on the SDEC; supported marriage equality (and other progressive planks throughout my 4 years). I voted against putting something on the ballot (it wasn’t at the May meeting). If we put it on the ballot, we would give people the opportunity to vote against marriage equality in a forum where it wouldn’t matter. Then the other party could say – see the Dems can’t even agree. Furthermore, if it made it to the platform committee at the convention, the dinosaurs could say – the voters were not unanimous; it’s not time to put it on the platform. I did not run for re-election because I am moving the Colorado later this month. My replacement may or may not be as progressive as I am. Get your facts straight.
David, what was voted down at the SDEC meeting was placing a referendum on the primary ballot. No vote was ever taken on the platform. That is decided by the temporary and permanent platform committees at the convention. Many of us voted for having the referendum on the ballot, including both SD 18 committee members. And the platform was approved by a resounding voice vote on the convention floor.
As a follow up – what Alan Blakley wrote is correct…and his rationale against putting it on the Party Primary ballot as a referendum I happen to agree with. It could have done more harm than good – so I agree with his reasoning and the reasoning of others on the SDEC on this issue and do not in any way hold it against them.
There were and are some very strong GLBT supporters who were against putting the referendum on the ballot.
So this is not to suggest that the SDEC members voting against the referendum were ‘hostile’ to our issues…
because that would not be accurate.
Face it, Y’all! Obama is sincere and does speak from the heart. Obama is inclusive of all American’s, even those who would vote against him. Obama remembers and has read the racial history of America and how blacks were and in some cases still treated. TEA party member do not use the (T) but rather the (R) when registering to run. Conservatives have tried to “Out Conservative” another conservative by saying they are more conservative or throwing out that “Liberal” anointment. Freedom Works and Club for Growth PAC’s along with Libertarians and fringe member Sarah Palin have made it their mission to get TEA party members into office locally, at the state level and nationally. Since when does any politician or state or legislative branch have the right to tell another how to live their lives, or what church to go to or any other religious aspect of living in America. This smacks of “Nazi Extremism” like Hitler want of an all white population. The TEA party has gotten so powerful and influential in local and state politics and are now pushing at the national level. States at the local level have already legislated their religion onto others and have over-stepped their fiduciary function to the people they are supposed to represent.
Additional convention coverage by QSanAntonio “Stonewall Dems score victories at Texas Democratic Convention”
https://www.qsanantonio.com/tsdc5.html