When will the Republicans get it?

I cannot believe in the current political climate that the Republican National Committee (RNC) decided to reaffirm their commitment to oppose same-sex marriage. As some of their members have decided to come out for marriage equality, the RNC has decided to dig their heels in.

Can someone help me understand why a political party would want to write off 5 percent of the electorate? LGBT people represent the same number of voters that the Jewish community represents. I cannot imagine a scenario where the RNC would not support Israel or the Jewish community.

If we represent the same amount of votes, why don’t we get the same respect? It is simple; the RNC hates the concept of LGBT equality. All of the RNC members subscribe to the anti-LGBT marriage policy. It passed unanimously.

The anti-LGBT policies do not stop with marriage. Locally, many states with Republican governors have a host of anti-LGBT policies. Whether it is preventing LGBT people from adopting, or allowing our community to be fired from our jobs simply for being who we are, LGBT people are under attack by many in the Republican Party. It should be noted that there are also Democrats that are anti-LGBT but the Democratic National Committee (DNC) supports marriage equality.

For example, Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu says she personally supports marriage equality but her constituents have made their voice heard and they resoundingly don’t support marriage equality. I am sure glad Landrieu wasn’t a senator when the civil rights bill came to a vote in the ’60s. But I digress, this is really about Republicans.

The likelihood of same-sex couples being included in the new immigration bill is close to nil. Why? The Republicans have no intention of acknowledging same-sex couples, regardless of the proposed United American Families Act (UAFA). The UAFA would set up a new class of citizens called “permanent partners” for immigration purposes. The Republicans paid for the defense of DOMA for heaven’s sake, so supporting “permanent partners” in the immigration bill runs counter to what their base believes.

The Republican Party is going to find itself without the majority of LGBT votes for decades to come.

I would think they would remember the history of their party with African Americans and the ’60s civil rights movement; they have never recovered African American voters.

They are headed in the same direction with the LGBT community. As the old adage says, you reap what you sow; the Republican Party is not sowing much for us.