GOP in Texas Wants to Criminalize Homosexuality... Again!

2010 has seen its fair share of weird political stories. There’ve been weird ads like those Carly Fiorina – ‘demon sheep’ ad – and Dale Peterson’s ‘I’ll name names and take no prisoners’ ad. There have been shocking revelations like Rep. X Barton’s apology to BP and senatorial candidate Al Greene’s election. But nothing shook me as much as reading about Texas GOP’s platform for 2010. Folks, they want to criminalize homosexuality, again. And this time around, it won’t be just gays.

The language in the platform is quite clear:

“We oppose the legalization of sodomy. We demand that Congress exercise its authority granted by the U.S. constitution to withhold jurisdiction from the federal courts from cases involving sodomy,”

Bear in mind folks, the landmark Supreme Court decision that delegitimized anti-homosexuality laws came in a case that challenged Texas’s anti-sodomy laws in 2003. But this is not it. The platform goes a step further and directly attacks people who aren’t even gay just for supporting gays:

“We support legislation that would make it a felony to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple and for any civil official to perform a marriage ceremony for such,”

And just to nail it in:

“We believe that the practice of homosexuality tears at the fabric of society, contributes to the breakdown of the family unit, and leads to the spread of dangerous, communicable diseases… Homosexual behavior is contrary to the fundamental, unchanging truths that have been ordained by God, recognized by our country’s founders, and shared by the majority of Texans. Homosexuality must not be presented as an acceptable ‘alternative’ lifestyle in our public education and policy, nor should ‘family’ be redefined to include homosexual ‘couples.’ “

And it gets better. The platform was passed in 2006 by the state GOP and has remained unchanged – for anyone who thinks this is a sudden attempt to buy more evangelical votes. The fact that for the past four years, it has relatively created little buzz outside the blogosphere is a crying shame. In a country founded on the principle of personal freedom, this attack on the very principle should be shocking to anyone who reads it.

And you thought Uganda was harsh on gays… So far, it’s only found traction in LGBT-oriented news sites and the only people who’ve raised a voice against it so far are… surprise, Log Cabin Republicans. Have we really become so desensitized to discrimination?  Rights have to be defended on a daily basis. Just because we are given certain rights by law does not mean others are going to just sit back and let us enjoy them. I wonder if CNN, MSNBC, or other liberal media are going to pick this up. But something tells me we’re going to remain silent and the wording will remain in future platforms as well. Yes, until the GOP drops it on its own in 50 years’ time.