Proposed GOP platform silent on same-sex marriage

Defining marriage as only between one man and one woman — a bedrock of the GOP platform for decades — is notably absent from a proposal backed by former President Trump that will be voted on next week at the Republican National Convention.

It’s a dramatic change for a party that has long used opposition to same-sex marriage to rally social conservatives. It also reflects broader changing societal views about such relationships — as well as how much Trump has changed the GOP.

The platform language is by no means a full-throated defense of same-sex marriage or gay rights. In fact, many queer rights organizations condemned the platform as particularly dangerous for transgender people and youth and the party as virulently anti-LGBTQ+.

“Who cares what they put in the party platform? What matters is the actions taken,” said Rep. Robert Garcia, an openly gay member of Congress from Long Beach. “If you look at the House, the amount of anti-LGBTQ legislation is at historic levels.”

Still, the removal of same-sex marriage from the platform was a victory LGBTQ+ Republicans have sought for years.

“This is a platform that is inclusive of many communities, including LGBT Americans. It promotes the sanctity of marriage, but doesn’t exclude our marriages,” said Charles Moran, the president of the Log Cabin Republicans, a GOP group founded in California in 1977 that advocates for gay rights and faces varying degrees of acceptance, and opposition, in the party.

“This is a pro-family platform, but it provides a place for our families too,” said Moran, an RNC delegate from San Pedro.

Democrats argue that the platform change was a meaningless move designed to paper over Republicans’ concerted efforts to reduce rights for gay, lesbian and trans Americans.

Garcia, citing initiatives in Congress and state legislatures, said Republicans have gone from attacking education and books that teach gay history, “to attacking health education, to attacking something as simple as pride celebrations, obviously attacking trans families and rolling back protections on everything from workplace rights to just the active dehumanization of people.”

The proposed Republican platform mentions marriage just once, in a paragraph about families: “Republicans will promote a Culture that values the Sanctity of Marriage, the blessings of childhood, the foundational role of families, and supports working parents.”

The 2016 platform — the last one adopted by the RNC — contains nearly two dozen references to marriage.

“The data and the facts lead to an inescapable conclusion: Every child deserves a married mom and dad,” the platform reads. It also condemned the 2015 Supreme Court decision that legalized gay marriage nationwide.

The 2024 platform, approved by a party committee Monday, is just 16 pages, significantly shorter than prior ones. Notably, it scrapped previous language opposing abortion in the aftermath of Roe vs. Wade being overturned. Though it says, “We proudly stand for families and Life,” it also called for the matter to be decided by the states. This policy shift has received the lion’s share of attention and criticism from conservatives.

However, some Republicans have also lamented the lack of language on marriage, such as former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and the National Assn. of Christian Lawmakers.

“When we heard there was an organized effort to whitewash the GOP platform on the issues of life and marriage, we could hardly believe it,” said South Carolina state Rep. John R. McCravy III, who also serves as the Palmetto state’s chair of the association, in a statement before the platform committee vote.

He added, “I sincerely pray that RNC delegates will not surrender on these important principles.”

The matter will be voted on next Monday, the opening day of the convention in Milwaukee. But given Trump’s backing of the proposal, it’s almost certain to pass.

Sasha Issenberg, the author of “The Engagement: America’s Quarter-Century Struggle Over Same-Sex Marriage,” said Trump’s views are not surprising.

“The party platform is a political document. This is an area where Trump has been incredibly pragmatic,” said Issenberg, who teaches political science at UCLA.

Same-sex marriage does not divide voters the way it did 20 years ago, Issenberg said, adding that to “state the obvious,” Trump is “not a guy who is terribly moralistic about the sanctity of marriage or a real prude on sexual issues.”

In the past, the GOP’s opposition to same-sex marriage was an effective way to win votes. Such was the case in 2004, when Gavin Newsom, then mayor of San Francisco, allowed the issuance of marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples. A handful of officials in other local jurisdictions did the same.

Then-President George W. Bush, who was running for reelection, pounced on the issue, framing those actions as “lawlessness,” Issenberg said.

State constitutional amendments to prohibit same-sex marriage were placed on the ballots of more than a dozen states, and some Democrats partly blamed Newsom’s actions for Democrat John Kerry’s loss to Bush.

Newsom, now governor of California, was dismissive of the GOP platform change.

“Give me a break,” he said. “Americans won’t be fooled. This is nothing more than an election year stunt to hide their anti-freedom agenda.”

Years ago, Newsom was an outlier among Democrats on LGBTQ+ issues. His party’s platforms did not explicitly call for same-sex marriage rights two decades ago, saying the matter should be left to the states. (The 2004 platform did, however, oppose Bush’s effort to promote a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between a man and a woman.)

In the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, nearly every Democratic candidate, including then-Sens. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, opposed same-sex marriage.

By the 2012 campaign, Obama and Biden expressed their support for same-sex marriage, a reflection of dramatically changing attitudes nationwide.

In 1996, 27% of Americans believed same-sex marriages should be recognized as valid, according to a Gallup poll. Earlier this year, that number in the same poll had increased to 69%.

Issues such as gender-affirming care and trans athletes remain far more controversial among voters, which partly explains Republican dichotomy on LGBTQ+ issues, Issenberg said.

Indeed, the proposed platform pledges to ban men from playing in women’s sports, not allow taxpayer funds to be spent on gender-affirming surgery — which the platform calls “sex-change surgeries” — and other prohibitions aimed at the trans community.

Still, the GOP has shown signs of being more accepting of people who are not heterosexual. In 2016, Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel made history when he said from the podium of the Republican National Convention that he is gay. (Openly gay men previously spoke at conventions but did not mention their sexuality.)

As president, Trump named Richard Grenell as U.S. ambassador to Germany and then as acting director of national intelligence. Grenell, who did not respond to a request for comment, was the highest-ranking openly gay member of a GOP White House administration.

Grenell, the RNC delegate from Manhattan Beach, is expected to speak at the convention on Wednesday, and is likely to hold a high-ranking post in a second Trump administration.

Members of the Trump family have also been supportive of Log Cabin, notably the former president’s wife, Melania. The former first lady has headlined fundraisers for the group, including events at Mar-a-Lago, the Trump residence in Florida, and Trump Tower in New York City.

Two events in New York City raised $1.4 million the same day that the platform committee approved the new platform.

“It is important that we do not allow society to define us based on superficial characteristics, but rather focus on the common values that bind us as Americans,” she said, according to a transcript of excerpts of her remarks at a second event. “The Log Cabin Republicans have been instrumental in championing this message, and I am proud to stand alongside you.”