A party platform approved last week by
Texas Republicans meeting at their annual convention calls for the
criminalization of being gay.
Calling being gay “contrary” to
American ideals, the Texas GOP's 2010 State Republican Party Platform
comes out swinging on all fronts against gay men and lesbians. The
document rails against being gay, rejects the idea of families headed
by gay couples and is opposed to gay rights, including gay marriage,
adoption of children by gay couples and equal workplace benefits for
the spouses of gay employees.
The party also wants free reign to bash
gays, saying “We oppose any criminal or civil penalties against
those who oppose homosexuality out of faith, conviction, or belief in
traditional values.”
The platform also is critical of gay
men and lesbians marrying, urging Congress and state legislatures to
approve constitutional amendments banning gay marriage and supports
making 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 by coming out against the
legalization of sodomy, the Texas GOP is advocating for the
criminalization of being gay.
The Supreme Court's 2003 Lawrence v.
Texas ruling declared sodomy laws to be unconstitutional. Texas'
sodomy law, enacted in 1860, prescribed a five to 15 year prison term
for violators.