WASHINGTON – Reports indicate that the Republican 2012 platform will not only reject marriage equality, but will push for a federal constitutional amendment banning committed gay and lesbian couples from marrying and stripping rights from legally married same-sex couples and call for a vigorous defense of the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
The platform must still be adopted by the full committee Tuesday and then by the convention delegates in Tampa next week.
The platform language appears to bear more resemblance to the National Organization for Marriage’s “marriage vow” than it does to the values held by mainstream Americans. Like the GOP platform, that vow – which Mitt Romney signed – requires candidates pursue a federal marriage amendment and vigorously defend DOMA. It also calls on candidates to appoint only anti-LGBT judges, reject marriage equality in the nation’s capital, and set up a McCarthy-like commission to investigate the activities of equality supporters.
“The GOP’s proposed platform is blatantly out-of-step with not only the majority of our nation, but even with the rank and file of the Republican Party itself,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “The party is poised to send a devastating message to LGBT youth – that they and the families they aspire to one day build are not worthy of the same protections as everyone else.
“This platform language certainly doesn’t represent the whole of the GOP, which is continuing to add equality supporters to its ranks,” added Griffin. “As Americans and young Republicans increasingly embrace equality, politicians seeking to harm our community will not even be considered serious contenders at the national level.”
Recent polling consistently indicates that a majority of Americans support marriage equality. Nationally, a recent CNN/ORC International poll shows 54 percent of Americans support marriage equality. And nearly half of all Republicans under the age of 35 support marriage equality, according to a May NBC News/WSJ poll.
