Texas Republicans call for ban on ‘abnormal’ gay marriage and parenting
Anti-gay marriage protesters hold signs as Controversial Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore speaks at a rally of conservative Texas legislators opposing gay marriage at a Texas Capitol rally. (Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc/Corbis via Getty Images)
The Republican Party of Texas wants to ban “abnormal” gay marriage, same-sex parenting and pretty much anything LGBTQ+.
A list on the State Convention of the Republican Party of Texas platform is a cause for deep worry among the LGBTQ+ community who are already under attack in the Lone Star State.
“We believe in… the law of nature and nature’s God,” the principles start, with the party believing in “self-sufficient families, founded on traditional marriage of a natural man and a natural woman”.
The resolutions describe homosexuality as “an abnormal lifestyle choice,” adding that the party “opposes any criminal or civil penalties” against people who discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community for religious reasons.
Texas GOP platform describes gender-affirming care as child abuse
Among Texas Republican priorities is a call for an end to gay marriage and same-sex parenting.
“We are opposed to same-sex parenting, intentionally subjecting a child to the loss of their biological father or mother, and other non-traditional definitions of family,” the platform notes. This flies in the face of the Supreme Court ruling in 2015 that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples.
The manifesto also opposes all queer anti-discrimination laws and rights for the trans community, while proposing a blanket ban on LGBTQ+ content in schools and libraries and calling for abortion to be abolished, stating that fertilised human eggs cells should be legally recognised as people.
The platform goes on to call for anyone offering gender-affirming care to be “criminally prosecuted for child abuse”.
Under a section devotes to protecting minors, the platform describes Drag Queen Story Hours as a “predatory sexual behaviour” against which children should be protected.
The resolutions, set to be adopted today (29 May) after a final vote, also suggest that legal protections should be provided to anyone who believes marriage is between one man and one woman.
To make matters worse for LGBTQ+ Texans, Republican governor Greg Abbott has said he wants to “end” transgender teachers expressing their identity in classrooms.
The situation has become so dire in the state that humanitarian groups published an open letter in January, pleading with the United Nations to “raise alarm about the deteriorating human rights situation”. Abbott didn’t receive the news well, writing on X/Twitter: “The UN can go pound sand.”
