In Major Shift, Draft of GOP Platform Drops Call for Federal Marriage Amendment

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In Major Shift, Draft of GOP Platform Drops Call for Federal Marriage Amendment

The Republican Party will reportedly shift its platform language to drop calls for a federal marriage amendment even though it still calls for state governments to recognize that marriage is between a man and a woman.

CNN reports:

Gone is seeking a constitutional amendment to declare marriage as between “one man and one woman,” and instead there is a section on the importance of a “married mom and dad.”

“Our laws and our government’s regulations should recognize marriage as the union of one man and one woman and actively promote married family life as the basis of a stable and prosperous society,” the draft reads.

But it leaves the issue up to state governments, saying it rejects the Supreme Court’s decision last year holding that same-sex marriage bans are unconstitutional: “We urge (the decision’s) reversal whether through judicial reconsideration or a constitutional amendment returning control over marriage to the states.”

The draft did add language on so-called “religious freedom” laws, which seek to protect businesses who deny services based on religious objections to gay marriage. The laws have become controversial at the state level across the country. The platform language supports the “First Amendment Defense Act” proposed in Congress.

The platform also calls for the appointing of judges in the vein of late Justice Antonin Scalia, to fight against “judicial activism” in the form of the gay marriage decision, court rulings upholding Obamacare and abortion.

The platform’s language on abortion remains unchanged.

Certain gay Republicans are pushing for pro-LGBT language of another sort, Politico adds:

A letter to platform committee members calls for the party to respond to the massacre at a gay night club in Orlando by recognizing that “radical Islamic terrorism” poses an “existential threat” to freedom, especially to the freedom of LGBT people.

As the platform committee meets over the next two days in Cleveland, the move to form a modest new alliance in a very different culture war comes from Rachel Hoff. She’s a Marco Rubio delegate from Washington — and the first openly gay person ever assigned to the Republican platform committee. And while the party remains bitterly divided over same-sex marriage, Hoff’s letter, emailed to delegates on Thursday and obtained by POLITICO, points to sympathetic statements not only from presumptive nominee Donald Trump after the attacks, but also from people who oppose same-sex marriage, like Mitt Romney and Rubio.

“As we mourn the victims of Islamic terror in Orlando, Ann & I say a special prayer for the LGBT community that was the focus of this attack,” Romney tweeted the day after a man claiming allegiance to ISIS gunned down 49 people at Pulse nightclub.

And hate group leader Tony Perkins is lobbying for recognition of gay conversion therapy, Right Wing Watch reports:

Tony Perkins of the far-right Family Research Council, who is serving as an RNC delegate from Louisiana, reportedly proposed an amendment calling for the endorsement of ex-gay “conversion therapy.” RNC Chairman Reince Priebus met with him about the amendment and, according to Time’s Zeke Miller, told him that he missed the deadline but “can bring it up on the floor”.

And they’ve reportedly added anti-trans language:

The RNC appears to be set to approve a proposal to back anti-trans facility laws like the one passed by North Carolina, which was recently endorsed by Donald Trump.

GOP platform subcommittee passes amendment calling for legislation restricting bathroom use by biological sex

— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) July 11, 2016

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