Hundreds of California Republicans gathered Sunday at the San Francisco Airport Hotel for the general session of the California Republican Party’s (CRP) Spring Convention. The agenda included the ratification of the Party’s platform, and of particular interest to the LGBT community was language regarding education, marriage, and family. While the newly revised platform has not been officially released, the General Assembly has approved the platform.
Ryan Trabuco, delegate, a veteran of 13 CRP Conventions, Vice President of the Log Cabin Republicans of San Diego County, and President of the Clairemont Town Council told San Diego LGBT Weekly, “LCR members and moderates are encouraged to vote their conscience on the platform.”
When asked whether he supported the platform he said, “I and others plan to oppose the platform on principle.”
True to form during the vote, Trabuco tweeted: “I couldn’t in any good conscience support a failed 2008 platform that does little to grow #CAGOP into majority party. #SaveCA #MajorityGOP”
When asked what he generally thought of the convention, Trabuco told San Diego LGBT Weekly, “Despite philosophical differences on the platform, our party remains united against the radical failed policies of Democrats this cycle.” He went on to say, “California’s unemployment is 33% higher than the national average, and businesses continue to hemorrhage jobs from the state, and Jerry Brown’s plan to fix it is to just raise taxes.”
Local Democratic Party Chairman Jess Durfee had a different perspective telling San Diego LGBT Weekly, “Well, you know that here in California they [Republican Party] are certainly out of step with the mainstream.”
Chairman Durfee contrasted the position of the state party to local Republican elected officials adding that, “When you look at Mayor Sanders, Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher and even Supervisor Ron Roberts, you would assume that they don’t agree with that [the Republican Platform]. It indicates a trend you are seeing where the Republican Party is becoming an endangered species in California, and they do this at their own peril.”
Activists such as Linda Perine, who led the Community Leadership Council’s LGBT taskforce on Redistricting further explained, “The Republican Party has used ignorance and divisiveness as a campaign strategy since Democrats passed the civil rights Act of 1964.” When asked to elaborate on that remark, she added, “You have the ‘Southern Strategy’ – pitting whites against blacks in the south; Then locally there is ‘Pension Hysteria’ pitting the young against the old and then there is the what I call the ‘Guns, Gays and God’ strategy where they employee faux religion to demonize gay people.”
In August, at a meeting of the CRP Drafting Committee, moderate members of the Republican Party had drafted a platform that loosened the party’s stances on gun rights, abortion, same-sex marriage, and family values. That platform passed in a near unanimous vote with 30 delegates in favor and only 2 in opposition.
Later in September, after significant resistance from conservatives in the party the Platform Committee voted against the “moderate” platform proposal and instead submitted an updated version of the 2008 platform which included the following plank:
“We believe public policy and education should not be exploited to present or teach homosexuality as an acceptable ‘alternative’ lifestyle. We oppose same-sex partner benefits, child custody and adoption.”
The new platform will govern the Party’s positions, endorsements and philosophy until 2016 when California Republican delegates will redraft the platform for the next four years.
In regards to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – Democrats voted Yea in the 65% range and Republicans were in the 80% range. Democrats were the party of slavery and segregation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964#By_party