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Changes to GOP’s Same-Sex Marriage Plank Fail
Wall Street Journal ^ | Aug 23 2012 | Andrew Grossman

Posted on 08/23/2012 7:05:45 AM PDT by scottjewell

Two longshot efforts to alter the Republican Party’s official position on same-sex marriage failed Tuesday morning.

Republicans drafting the party’s platform in Tampa rejected the pair of amendments, but each found some support among the delegates.

The first, proposed by Rhode Island delegate Barbara Fenton, called for ending government-recognized marriage and replacing it with civil unions for both homosexual and heterosexual couples.

... Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, a delegate from Louisiana, opposed the measure.

“This would move us away from a party that recognizes the benefits that marriage extends to a society,” Mr. Perkins said. “We recognize nature, we recognize history, that nature is the union of one man and one woman.”

The committee backed Mr. Perkins’s position, defeating the amendment on a voice vote.

Another amendment, proposed by Pat Kerby from Nevada, would have added support for civil unions for same-sex couples to the platform...

(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: barbarafenton; celebrateperversity; culturewar; homosexualagenda; moralabsolutes; patkerby; rinos; samesexmarriage; sexpositiveagenda; smashmonogamy; traditionalmarriage

1 posted on 08/23/2012 7:05:52 AM PDT by scottjewell
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To: scottjewell

Party planks don’t mean much.


2 posted on 08/23/2012 7:18:14 AM PDT by cripplecreek (What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?)
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To: cripplecreek

Guess not...


3 posted on 08/23/2012 7:36:02 AM PDT by scottjewell
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To: cripplecreek
Having friends on that committee, those planks speak volumes to the sense of the Party, i.e. who has the largest strength, voice, members, delegates.

The way this snippet of the article is written and I don't doubt the rest of it as well, it infers that there is or could be equal numbers represented. The sad fact for the media and small pro-gay contingent is, they have no sizable majority on any committee. What they do have is a larger representation in the media and therefore even get noticed.

No right thinking Republican is in favor of recognizing "gay unions" of any sort and those favoring anything like it, have no majority of those voted by their states to represent the "people's voice" throughout the land.

4 posted on 08/23/2012 7:55:52 AM PDT by zerosix (native sunflower)
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To: zerosix

Considering the fact that they patted themselves on the back for a strong border control stance in 2008 just days before Mr Amnesty was nominated, the plank obviously doesn’t mean squat. And this time there’s Mitt.

The GOP is playing hacky sack in a minefield and the wrong step is a matter of when, not if.


5 posted on 08/23/2012 8:04:25 AM PDT by cripplecreek (What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?)
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To: scottjewell
Civil Unions only make sense if they are completely different from marriage and have nothing to do with child rearing. For example, if any two people (two guys, and guy and a girl, father and son, whatever) want to link themselves together financially in order to face life's challenges together, great. They check a box on their tax form and declare a civil union for one year. Unless renewed on the next year, the union automatically expires.

The union could come with things like implied power of attorney and certain tax benefits similar to marriage in some respects, but different in others. This way, marriage stays marriage (life long union between one man and one woman) and is designed to be the foundation of a family, and other folks not interested in that arrangement can still face life's challenges as part of a team rather than alone (and are thus less likely to end up on public assistance). Everyone wins.

So long as civil unions are considered same sex “marriage” for gay people, this pointless battle over the word “marriage” will never end.

6 posted on 08/23/2012 8:04:32 AM PDT by LaserJock
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To: LaserJock

Excellent clarifications. Thanks!


7 posted on 08/23/2012 8:08:59 AM PDT by scottjewell
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To: cripplecreek
So, you're favoring the strong Libertarian no Democratic no.....they're both endorsing Open Borders, right.

So what do you favor, a party that elects someone who endorses Amnesty then gets shut down and those voting along with him are no longer in office, or is there another party out there with a ghost of a chance of becoming anything and by so doing, re-electing Obama?

8 posted on 08/23/2012 8:24:15 AM PDT by zerosix (native sunflower)
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To: zerosix
re-electing Obama

The GOP version of screaming "Racist!" just means you don't have an argument. In fact I don't understand why you're throwing your little tantrum anyway. All I'm doing is pointing out a simple fact that the party planks are meaningless anyway which is an obvious fact to anyone who even glances at it.
9 posted on 08/23/2012 8:33:59 AM PDT by cripplecreek (What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?)
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To: scottjewell

Good for the GOP.

Actually good for the few real conservatives like Tony Perkins for standing up and insisting that the Party at least continue appear actually, you know, conservative.


10 posted on 08/23/2012 8:55:04 AM PDT by fwdude ( You cannot compromise with that which you must defeat.)
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To: cripplecreek
Party planks don’t mean much.

Yeah, I guess words don't either.

11 posted on 08/23/2012 8:55:57 AM PDT by fwdude ( You cannot compromise with that which you must defeat.)
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To: LaserJock
The union could come with things like implied power of attorney and certain tax benefits similar to marriage in some respects, but different in others. This way, marriage stays marriage (life long union between one man and one woman) and is designed to be the foundation of a family, and other folks not interested in that arrangement can still face life's challenges as part of a team rather than alone (and are thus less likely to end up on public assistance). Everyone wins.

This makes perfect sense. After all, the homosexual activists started this 'marriage' fight because of the fact that their 'partners' were not allowed to visit them in the hospital and make decisions for them, if the family of the sick partner didn't agree. There were always legal avenues to get what the homosexuals wanted, but their activists wanted to destroy the entire idea of marriage as we know it, so they've framed their fight as a 'civil rights' struggle.

As you mentioned in the first paragraph of your original post, the union could be between any two persons, and the idea of being able to do so to help economically is a great idea. There would be a steep educational curve, however, to define these 'civil unions' in a way that doesn't involve sexual identity. I think, once understood, they'd be very well received. They would be especially useful for older people who may need to join forces to be able to survive on limited incomes.

12 posted on 08/23/2012 9:03:57 AM PDT by SuziQ
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