| christian grantham | |||
| Christian Grantham was a student activist in the late 90s and later was a consultant to domestic policy forums for the Clinton Administration as well as events for HRC and GLAAD. | |||
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April 19, 2004
The Republican National Convention, scheduled August 30, 2004 in New York City, will host a spectacular display of issues being protested outside the convention. But one issue that will dominate the convention inside the platform committee will be equal marriage rights for gays.
Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie has already promised to fortify anti-gay positions in the party's platform, calling tolerance for equal rights, "religious bigotry." Gillespie's rhetoric on the issue is a divisive clarion call to a religiously fanatic conservative base eager to divide America. The support of gay Republicans in 2000 is of no consequence to a Republican base determined to make constitutional protections a matter of exclusivity.
Ever since President Bush lent his voice to divisive forces seeking a constitutional amendment denying equal marriage rights to gays, President Bush has steadily lost the support of gay Republicans. That might seem not much of a loss, but when you consider reports by Voter News Service's 2000 exit polling, more than 1,000,000 gay Republicans voted for President Bush. The margin was enough to give Bush a slim victory in Florida.
Not only has the nation's largest group for gay Republicans, Log Cabin Republicans, refused to endorse President Bush, the campaign for re-election is losing its closest gay supporters. Several of the original "Austin 12," a group of openly gay advisors to the Bush's 2000 presidential campaign, are expressing reservations over whether they will support Bush in 2004. Openly gay Republican Party Platform Committee member and one of the Austin 12, David Catania, has promised to draw attention to any attempt by the committee to support a constitutional amendment denying equal marriage rights to gay Americans.
In today's San Francisco Examiner, AP's Sara Kugler sheds some light on this growing story.
Here is what the current party platforms say about equal rights for gay Americans:
REPUBLICAN PARTY PLATFORM (2000)
We support the traditional definition of "marriage" as the legal union of one man and one woman, and we believe that federal judges and bureaucrats should not force states to recognize other living arrangements as marriages.
DEMOCRATIC PARTY PLATFORM (2000)
We support continued efforts ...to end workplace discrimination against gay men and lesbians. We support the full inclusion of gay and lesbian families in the life of the nation. This would include an equitable alignment of benefits.
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