Donald Trump’s son-in-law reportedly wants to gut Republican ‘gay cure’ support because even a broken clock is right twice a day
Senior Advisor Jared Kushner looks on as US President Donald Trump speaks (Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, is reportedly urging for an overhaul of the Republican national policy platform that could see the party ditch its support for conversion therapy.
Axios reports that the Republican operative, who has served as senior advisor to the president since 2017, is keen to ditch some divisive issues from the GOP policy platform.
One of the most significant targets could be a policy plank installed in 2016 intended to underscore support for gay cure therapy.
The 2016 platform supports “the right of parents to determine the proper medical treatment and therapy for their minor children.”
It infuriated gay Republicans when it was first was introduced, with the then-head of the LGBT+ group the Log Cabin Republicans complaining: “This isn’t my GOP, and I know it’s not yours either.”
Jared Kusher wants to overhaul the Republican platform for 2020.
According to Axios, Kushner cited the policy as an example of language that would “alienate voters” at a meeting with senior White House and campaign staff ahead of the Republican national convention, currently scheduled for August.
Kusher is said to have told colleagues that the 58-page document should be trimmed down to a short “mission statement” that states “something like the 10 principles we believe in”.
Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner and US President Donald Trump (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
The 2016 platform was regarded as one of the most regressive ever seen on LGBT+ rights, calling for a “reversal” of equal marriage “whether through judicial reconsideration or a constitutional amendment returning control over marriage to the states”.
It also endorsed a law to “bar government discrimination against individuals and businesses for acting on the belief that marriage is the union of one man and one woman”, and attacked then-president Barack Obama for “imposing a social and cultural revolution upon the American people” by “wrongly” protecting people from discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The 2016 platform also explicitly backed anti-transgender bathroom laws, railing against a supposed “agenda” to “reshape our schools — and our entire society — to fit the mould of an ideology alien to America’s history and traditions”.
Even if Kushner is successful in enforcing a slimmed-down policy platform, it is unlikely that the GOP would ditch its opposition to equal marriage and LGBT+ rights protections on a practical level.
2020 GOP platform will be ‘most conservative in history’.
Trump re-election campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh told Axios: “This is a concept that has been driven by the campaign. A more concise platform is just one of many options being discussed, and it is in fact not a new idea.
“As recently as 2016, a more focused platform was considered. Ultimately, the platform committee of the convention will make the decision, but as is the case with all national conventions, the president’s campaign will play a major role.
“In any event, we expect the 2020 platform to be the most conservative in history and one which will reflect the president’s conservative imprint on the Republican Party.”
Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump have previously talked themselves up as LGBT+ allies in the past — but despite pitching themselves as moderating influences on anti-LGBT+ actions within the Trump administration, they have has few relative successes.
