GOP Platform Calls for Amendment to Ban Gay Marriage

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The New York Sun

Republicans endorsed an uncompromising position against gay unions yesterday in a manifesto that contrasts with Vice President Cheney’s supportive comments about gay rights and the moderate face the party will show at next week’s national convention.


A panel made up largely of conservative delegates approved platform language that calls for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and opposes legal recognition of any sort for gay civil unions.


The GOP’s full platform committee, seeking to appease party members who support gay or abortion rights without embracing their positions, adopted language later that states Republicans “respect and accept” dissenting views.


“We are the party of the open door,” said Governor Barbour of Mississippi, who led platform deliberations on social issues.


But activists who support gay and abortion rights said they felt shut out, and sharply criticized their party for adopting a hard line in advance of a convention next week that will seek support from swing voters and more liberal Republicans.


Christopher Barron of Log Cabin Republicans, a GOP gay-rights group, was livid after the panel endorsed the first ever call for a constitutional gay-marriage ban in a GOP platform and went beyond that to oppose legal recognition of any same-sex unions.


“You can’t craft a vicious, mean-spirited platform and then try to put lipstick on the pig by putting Rudy Giuliani and Arnold Schwarzenegger on in prime time,” he said in an interview.


Mr. Giuliani, a former New York mayor, and Governor Schwarzenegger of California are among moderate Republicans accorded prominent convention speaking slots.


Gary Bauer, who has campaigned for the marriage amendment and against abortion rights as president of the group American Values, said the platform draft solidifies the GOP as the “party of hearth and home.”


The draft urges a constitutional ban on abortion, echoing a call from previous platforms, and endorses President Bush’s restrictions on federal financing of stem cell research. Some Republicans want the restrictions loosened.


Andrea Lafferty of the Traditional Values Coalition advised the network of conservative churches not to worry about the religious right’s exclusion from prime time next week, given the advances against gay rights.


“Don’t be distracted by Schwarzenegger or Giuliani or even the vice president,” she said. “It is what George Bush says that counts and he has been faithful and fearless on this important issue.”


She dismissed the other side as “RINOs” – Republicans in Name Only.


Each side claims to represent the voters Mr. Bush needs most for re-election, setting up a balancing act as the party tries to keep its religious conservatives satisfied and motivated without driving other voters away.


Mr. Bauer, for example, said Mr. Cheney’s comments making clear his opposition to a constitutional ban on gay marriage were “just the sort of thing that discourages and demoralizes voters the administration desperately needs.”


Ann Stone, who leads Republicans for Choice, was just as insistent Mr. Bush must heed voters in battleground states who might be driven away by the hard line against abortion.


“Bush can’t win with just his base,” she said. “He needs base-plus. We are the plus.”


Delegates on both sides of the abortion issue met privately with Mr. Barbour to work out platform language sweetening the welcome for dissenters.


An initial platform draft stated only that Republicans “recognize” that not all party members agree on everything. This was changed to “respect and accept” in a 74-18 vote.


The New York Sun

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