At its convention in San Antonio over
the weekend, the Texas Republican Party endorsed a platform that
rejects transgender rights.
The 2018 platform opposes “all
efforts to validate transgender identity” and transgender people
serving openly in the military and supports legislation that would
bar transgender people from using the bathroom of their choice in
public buildings.
“The official position of the Texas
schools with respect to transgenderism is that there are only two
genders: male and female,” the document states.
The conservative LGBT group Log Cabin
Republicans lobbied for removal of a statement that described
homosexuality as a “chosen behavior” that “must not be
presented as an acceptable alternative lifestyle.”
It was replaced with a statement in
support of “God's biblical design for marriage and sexual behavior
between one biological man and one biological woman.” It also
calls on lawmakers to approve protections for “individuals,
businesses and government officials who believe marriage is between
one man and one woman.”
The 2018 platform also support
therapies that attempt to alter the sexual orientation or gender
identity of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Such
therapies go by names such as “conversion therapy,” “reparative
therapy” or “ex-gay therapy.” Fourteen states plus the
District of Columbia prohibit such therapies to minors.
The document also calls on lawmakers to
reject the Supreme Court's 2015 landmark decision that struck down
state bans limiting marriage to heterosexual couples. Texas has yet
to repeal its ban, though the high court's ruling leaves it
unenforceable.
Rachel Gonzales of Equality Texas
called the platform “clearly a very anti-LGBTQ platform.”
“The platform seems to represent a
very small, extremist segment of the Republican party,” Gonzalez
said.