–Gregory T. Angelo, president of theĀ gay groupĀ Log Cabin Republicans, in a fundraising e-mail sent to supporters following the unofficial adoption of the 2016 platform for the Republican National Convention, which Angelo called “the most anti-LGBT Platform in the Party’s 162-year history.” Although the RNC’s Platform Committee finished its work on Tuesday, the platform they passed will not be officially adopted until next week, when the entire convention will vote on whether to approve it.
“Opposition to marriage equality, nonsense about bathrooms, an endorsement of the debunked psychological practice of “pray the gay away” — it’s all in there,” Angelo writes in the email.Ā “This isn’t my GOP, and I know it’s not yours either. Heck,Ā it’s not even Donald Trump’s! When given the change to follow the lead of our presumptive presidential nominee and reach out to the LGBT community in the wake of the awful terrorist massacre in Orlando on the gay nightclub Pulse, the Platform Committee said NO.
“BUT…now is not the time to sit aroundĀ feeling sorry for ourselves. Log Cabin Republicans has been officially credentialed for the Republican National Convention, and when it convenes in Cleveland in a mere 6 days’ time I want to be able to take a stand, but we’re going to need your support to do it,” the email says, before asking for donations.Ā
Although much of the language adopted by the Platform Committee is expected to survive, some delegates to the convention have raised the possibility of a “minority report,” which would address points of contention between the official platform and the views of rank-and-file Republicans. This raises the possibility that the more LGBT-friendly or LGBT-neutral language favored by a minority of the Platform Committee — but thought to be more palatable to a wider audience of Republicans — could be put to a vote of the full convention. If passed, such changes would then become part of the Party’s official platform going into November’s general election.
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