The Texas Republicans have reaffirmed their homosexuality this weekend at their convention in San Antonio this past weekend.
In an act right out of Gay Cake Wars IV, the party released the document titled Report of 2018 Permanent Platform & Resolutions Committee which includes multiple negative policies toward our community, some calling for the repeal of local, regional, or state nondiscrimination statutes which protect LGBTQ persons.
The entire platform may be read and searched here. Some of the more volatile ones against our LGBTQ+ community are:
14. Counseling and Therapy: No laws or executive orders shall be imposed to limit or restrict access to sexual orientation counseling for self-motivated youth and adults.
102. Hate Crimes: We urge the complete repeal of the Hate Crimes Law since ample laws are currently in effect to punish criminal behavior towards other persons.
240. Gender Identity: We oppose all efforts to validate transgender identity. We call upon our legislature to enact laws prohibiting the use of hormones before the age of 18 in an attempt to change gender. We believe it should be illegal to remove healthy body parts in minors in an effort to try to transition to the opposite sex.
303. Religious Freedom for Business Owners: We support the removal of laws and regulations that are used to force business owners and employees to violate their sincerely held beliefs.
319. Overturn Unconstitutional Ruling: We believe this decision, overturning the Texas law prohibiting same-sex marriage in Texas, has no basis in the Constitution and should be reversed, returning jurisdiction over the definition of marriage to the states. The Governor and other elected officials of the State of Texas should assert our Tenth Amendment right and reject the Supreme Court ruling.
According to OutSmart Magazine, “In response to the efforts of the Log Cabin Republicans, delegates removed an especially heinous anti-gay sentence from the platform stating that, ‘Homosexual behavior is contrary to the fundamental truths that have been ordained by God in the Bible.'”
We expect society to go backwards as 45 has given many of the more conservative and backwards thinking citizens a voice. They've been here before but the moral compass was progressing in such a good way. Now, it's clicking back down.
Let us not forget that June 26, 2018 is the 15th anniversary of the legalization of gay sex in Texas–and other states.
Despite practice by heterosexual couples, the laws were specifically designed to target and to punish same-sex couples. In 1960, every state had an anti-sodomy law. That all changed with the case of Lawrence v. Texas, which fortified the right of consenting adults to engage in private sexual behavior–of any kind. – thegavoice.com
In June of 2003, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled 6 to 3 that such laws were illegal. Prior to 2003, 15 American states had laws banning sodomy, even between consenting private adults (Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Michigan, Utah, Texas, and Virginia). Many of these states did not take these laws off the books, but these old laws are considered null and void and cannot be used by the state to punish LGBTQ or any citizens.
Will we see the rise of Texas and its anti-LGBTQ+ laws?
h/t: thegavoice.com
You don’t define what is
You don't define what is 'anti-gay' for me. You are a left-wing magazine that only supports liberal progressive ideas. That's your right, but you are not a magazine for all gay people, certainly not for gay Republicans or even gay Libertarians. Why don't you just call yourself the "Liberal Instinct"? 14. So, government should forcibly prevent adults from seeking sexual change therapy because YOU don't believe it will work? I don't think it will either, but who am I tell them they can't try? I've known several people who have tried – and they seem actually better for having tried, and realizing there was no changing for them – they are well-adjusted friends of mine to this day. SO NOT anti-G. Isn't this the same argument anyway about allowing trans people to change themselves, regardless of what we think? 102. All gay people who believe in free speech oppose this, including famous gay writers like Jonathan Rauch and Andrew Sullivan. NOT Anti-GLBT (just anti-liberals who hate free speech). 240. I'll give you that one, it is anti-T, BUT NOT HOMOPHOBIC. 303. Because religious beliefs are all anti-gay? Gay Republicans and especially Libertarians are fine with this. It is pro-First Amendment, not anti-GLBT, except for those who fear the First Amendment, which apparently includes you. 319. "Returning jurisdiction over the definition of marriage to the states." Maybe we don't like it, but it is a Constitutional argument, and it is position held by OBAMA and CLINTON until very recently. I guess they and the Democratic Party were horrendously homophobic until the last election? (I know what happens when I bring this up – lib gays talk past it.) As for what LCR Texas took out: it took out FOUR (not ONE) blanket condemnations of homosexuality itself, it did so without any help outside the Republican Party, and certainly without yours, so that, specific policies aside, there is no longer a blanket condemnation left anywhere of people simply for being gay. Here's what they took out, AGAINST the wishes of one of the most power far right groups in Texas:
The changes from the 2016 platform, which the Platform Committee was required to start with, to the new 2018 platform are:
1. Homosexuality is chosen behavior – Gone.
2. Homosexuality is contrary to the truths of God – Gone.
3. Homosexuality should not presented as an acceptable lifestyle – Gone.
4. Family should not be redefined to include homosexual couples – Gone.
But, you chose to say things are worse than ever because that is what you want your readers to believe. But, you are simply lying to your readers. But, then maybe you do know your readers, and this is what they want to hear.