The Republican Party platform is now fully drafted, with little change on social issues, like gay marriage — but at least one Republican delegate has made emotional impact on the GOP.
Rachel Hoff, a Republican delegate from DC, who identifies herself as the first openly gay member of the RNC’s Platform Committee, gave an impassioned speech to the gathered delegates Tuesday, asking for the GOP to welcome in its LGBT members and move toward a more inclusive party platform.
“We are your daughters, your sons, your friends, your neighbors, your colleagues, the couple that sits next to you in church,” Hoff told the committee. “Freedom means freedom for everyone, including gays and lesbians. We should have the freedom to enter into relationships and receive the same protections as heterosexual couples.”
Hoff, who fought back tears during the speech, accompanied it with an amendment calling for a floor discussion among the entire group of delegates and calling for the party to “encourage and welcome a thoughtful conversation among Republicans” over the marriage issue, and to acknowledge a “diversity of opinion within our own party on the issue of marriage.”
The Platform Committee has been rife with debate over gay marriage — it has easily become the top hot-button issue among delegates in 2016, particularly in light of the Obergfell Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage in all 50 states.
Several platform subcommittees have seen heated exchanges over the subject, and some delegates who failed to read a petition calling for a floor vote on the matter are now accusing LGBT rights activists of using “duplicitous tactics.”
Unfortunately for LGBT allies in the GOP, the Republican Platform Committee didn’t feel the same way. Only around 30 of 112 amassed platform delegates were willing to vote in favor of Hoff’s amendment, and fewer were in favor of removing a call for a Constitutional ban on same sex marriage from the party platform. They also turned down a host of other moderating proposals on the subject of LGBT rights.
But there may be still hope on the horizon for those who wish to see a discussion happen within the GOP. Hoff’s amendment appears to have won enough votes to qualify as a “minority report,” and proceed to the full slate of delegates for a floor debate, if Hoff so elects.
