The Texas Republican Party is getting blasted for its surprising new platform declaring that “homosexuality is an abnormal lifestyle choice.”
The occasion’s up to date mission assertion, handed Saturday at its conference in Houston, additionally declares opposition to “all efforts to validate transgender identity” ― and requires a ban on any gender-affirming medical care, together with hormone remedy, for anybody beneath the age of 21.
At the identical time, it helps debunked and harmful “conversion therapy” — which it now calls “Reintegrative Therapy” — to get rid of “same-sex attraction.”
“These are just crazy people,” Michael Cargill told KXAN-TV in Austin, talking concerning the Texas Republican Convention. Cargill — the appearing chairman of the Log Cabin Republicans of Texas, which represents LGBTQ Republicans — lashed the occasion’s “hateful language” as “un-Christian.”
The occasion banned the Log Cabin Republicans from having a sales space on the conference this 12 months.
They “need to dig deep into the Bible, spend a little time in church on Sunday and listen to what the Lord says about loving all of his children,” Cargill mentioned.
Even Donald Trump Jr. recommended it was political suicide for the occasion to battle with different conservative Republicans, who could also be LGBTQ, as a substitute of going after Democrats and “RINOs,” shorthand for “Republicans in name only.”
Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor on the University of Houston, attributed the hard-right flip by an already extremist occasion to Donald Trump.
“Donald Trump radicalized the party and accelerated the demands from the base,” he told The Texas Tribune. “There simply aren’t limits now on what the base might ask for.”
Twitter was flooded Monday with criticism of a celebration that can’t tolerate members of the LGBTQ group however can tolerate forcing a 12-year-old lady to have the child of her rapist and accepts the homicide of 19 youngsters in Uvalde, Texas, as the price of having firearms.
Political commentator Lindy Li mentioned the true factor that’s “abnormal” is Texas Republicans — as a number of different critics additionally famous.
Activist actor George Takei lashed the brand new state occasion platform as “neo-fascist dehumanization,” noting that focusing on weak teams and classifying them as enemies is straight from the fascist playbook.
Li additionally puzzled if gay billionaire Peter Thiel will now cease forking over a whole lot of 1000’s of {dollars} to the Republican Party.
Plenty of others attacked the extremist Texans too.
In different platform points, occasion delegates voted to assist barring the educating of intercourse and sexuality in colleges whereas calling on Texas colleges to show the “dignity of the preborn human” and that life begins at fertilization.
Delegates additionally declared Joe Biden’s presidential election victory illegitimate — and rebuked Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn for his assist of a bipartisan settlement on gun security laws.
“Whereas all gun control is a violation of the Second Amendment and our God-given rights, we reject the so-called ‘bipartisan gun agreement,’ and we rebuke John Cornyn,” the platform states.