Texas Republicans Include "Gay Therapy" Plank in Platform

[Jagger69]

This is how far out of touch with reality the homophobes who shape republican party philosophy have gone in the great state of Texas.

In a draft copy of its official party platform, the Texas Republican Party has classified LGBT people as aberrant and endorsed the discredited practice of so-called “reparative therapy,” which seeks to rid people of same-sex attractions and turn them heterosexual.

The Houston Chronicle reported Thursday that the current draft of the party’s 2014 platform reads, in part, “(W)e oppose any criminal or civil penalties against those who oppose homosexuality out of faith, conviction, or belief in traditional values. We recognize the legitimacy and value of counseling which offers reparative therapy and treatment to patients who are seeking escape from the homosexual lifestyle. No laws or executive orders shall be imposed to limit or restrict access to this type of therapy.”

Conversion therapy has been outlawed for minors in California and New Jersey as a form of child abuse.

Exodus International — the North American nerve center for the “ex-gay” therapy movement — shut its doors in June of 2013, admitting that its mission is impossible, that sexual orientation is immutable and that the notion that people can be religiously converted from one orientation to another is a sham.

Exodus’ former director Alan Chambers penned a letter of apology to the LGBT Christians who were harmed by his ministry, writing, “I understand why I am distrusted and why Exodus is hated.”

Nonetheless, Texas Republicans are doggedly clinging to the notion that prayer and religious study can alter a person’s sexual orientation and that LGBT people are just straight victims of a treatable pathology.

“Homosexuality must not be presented as an acceptable alternative lifestyle, in public policy, nor should family be redefined to include homosexual couples,” reads the platform statement.

Delegates were able to convince party extremists to drop language that declared that the practice of “homosexuality tears at the fabric of society and contributes to the breakdown of the family unit. Homosexual behavior is contrary to the fundamental, unchanging truths that have been ordained by God.”

However, Texas Republicans were sure to include language forbidding the recognition of same-sex marriages performed in other states, writing, “We believe there should be no granting of special legal entitlements or creation of special status for homosexual behavior, regardless of state of origin.”

The draft platform called for even further restrictions on abortions performed in the state, gave tax incentives to energy companies engaging in the practice of hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”) and called for further hearings to investigate the September, 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

The platform is expected to be ratified at this weekend’s 2014 Texas Republican State Convention, which is being held in Ft. Worth.

Yeah. Let's cure gays from their affliction through counseling and prayer. What a noble cause.

These right-wingnut fucks in this state have gone totally over the falls. So far the Texas republicans have included homophobia, xenophobia, theophobia (for anything other than fundamental Christianity) and misogyny as central planks in their party platform. I wonder how many more groups of people they can find to alienate before it's all said and done. Incredible....and embarrassing for me since this is where I live. :eek:

Source is here:

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/06/...ted-therapy-to-cure-unacceptable-lgbt-people/

 

[Ace Boobtoucher]

Re: Texas Republicans Include "Gay Therapy" Plank in Platform

I'm loving Texas more and more every day but this seems kinda..............squiffy. If they had left well enough alone and just focused on important issues..........

 

[zeeblofowl_1969]

Re: Texas Republicans Include "Gay Therapy" Plank in Platform

Texas is an embarrassment to us all if this ever becomes more than just the scribblings of delusional religious sheep.
Even the focus of your own religion, Jebus, would be ashamed of your babbling rhetoric.
Try and eat poorly and fail to remain active Texas GOP as the sooner you halfwit cavemen pass from this earth the better.

 

[Mayhem]

Re: Texas Republicans Include "Gay Therapy" Plank in Platform

I'm loving Texas more and more every day but this seems kinda..............squiffy. If they had left well enough alone and just focused on important issues..........

Yeah, more important issues like keeping analytical thought out of public schools.

 

[xfire]

Re: Texas Republicans Include "Gay Therapy" Plank in Platform

Yeah, more important issues like keeping analytical thought out of public schools.

And closing down Planned Parenthood, even in locations that don't offer abortions because 'Murica.

 

[Jagger69]

Re: Texas Republicans Include "Gay Therapy" Plank in Platform

I'm loving Texas more and more every day but this seems kinda..............squiffy. If they had left well enough alone and just focused on important issues..........

How ironic because Texas is such a wonderful place to live. The weather, culture, economy....all just terrific. I love living here. It's this extreme right-wing lunacy that really troubles me. However, the light at the end of the tunnel is the fact that more and more Hispanics become legitimate citizens here every day (in spite of what you hear in the media, many Mexicans and other refugees from Latin America come to Texas legally. They aren't the ones making the news, however). Sometime within the next 20 years, the candy-apple red state of Texas will gradually morph to purple and then, hopefully, to a genuine blue state that doesn't let the fringe elements of the population who fear and hate dominate the political landscape as they presently do. Texas has a lot to offer the rest of the nation in so many ways. Once we can offer something from a political viewpoint it will be so much better.

Until then, we remain a laughingstock for the rest of the nation....a poster child for reactionary philosophy of the worst kind. We foment hate and fear against straw men that exist only for the purpose of being targets that the firebrands of the party can callously knock down in their endless verbal assaults against Obamacare, immigrants, Muslims, foreigners of any type, all non-Christians, Mexicans, gays and gay marriage, Darwinism, intellectualism, environmentalism, women's rights to control their own bodies, teaching genuine science in schools....the list goes on and on.

On behalf of all sane and rational Texans (believe me, there are a lot of us), I apologize to the rest of you for the behavior of the Texas republican party. The situation here is like handling the keys to a candy store to a group of children without supervision. These Tea Party nutjobs believe that they have been given a mandate from their constituency to carry out an agenda that would make Mussolini proud and they are running with it full-speed. Until or unless enough voters on the other side of the fence can organize themselves and unite to get out the vote and defeat these assholes, this situation will remain unchanged. I believe it will happen sooner than later....at least, I sure hope so.

 

[MustBeGood]

This is how far out of touch with reality the homophobes who shape republican party philosophy have gone in the great state of Texas.



Yeah. Let's cure gays from their affliction through counseling and prayer. What a noble cause.

These right-wingnut fucks in this state have gone totally over the falls. So far the Texas republicans have included homophobia, xenophobia, theophobia (for anything other than fundamental Christianity) and misogyny as central planks in their party platform. I wonder how many more groups of people they can find to alienate before it's all said and done. Incredible....and embarrassing for me since this is where I live. :eek:

This sounds like an Khmer Rouge type of program.

Without the genocide.

 

[BlkHawk]

Re: Texas Republicans Include "Gay Therapy" Plank in Platform

How ironic because Texas is such a wonderful place to live. The weather, culture, economy....all just terrific. I love living here. It's this extreme right-wing lunacy that really troubles me. However, the light at the end of the tunnel is the fact that more and more Hispanics become legitimate citizens here every day (in spite of what you hear in the media, many Mexicans and other refugees from Latin America come to Texas legally. They aren't the ones making the news, however). Sometime within the next 20 years, the candy-apple red state of Texas will gradually morph to purple and then, hopefully, to a genuine blue state that doesn't let the fringe elements of the population who fear and hate dominate the political landscape as they presently do. Texas has a lot to offer the rest of the nation in so many ways. Once we can offer something from a political viewpoint it will be so much better.

Until then, we remain a laughingstock for the rest of the nation....a poster child for reactionary philosophy of the worst kind. We foment hate and fear against straw men that exist only for the purpose of being targets that the firebrands of the party can callously knock down in their endless verbal assaults against Obamacare, immigrants, Muslims, foreigners of any type, all non-Christians, Mexicans, gays and gay marriage, Darwinism, intellectualism, environmentalism, women's rights to control their own bodies, teaching genuine science in schools....the list goes on and on.

On behalf of all sane and rational Texans (believe me, there are a lot of us), I apologize to the rest of you for the behavior of the Texas republican party. The situation here is like handling the keys to a candy store to a group of children without supervision. These Tea Party nutjobs believe that they have been given a mandate from their constituency to carry out an agenda that would make Mussolini proud and they are running with it full-speed. Until or unless enough voters on the other side of the fence can organize themselves and unite to get out the vote and defeat these assholes, this situation will remain unchanged. I believe it will happen sooner than later....at least, I sure hope so.

Hey now don't be so hard on your home state. Look on the bright side you don't live in Alabama. Alabama Chief Justice: Gay Marriage Is Un-American, Goes Against God And 'All That Is Noble' http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/07/roy-moore-gay-marriage-god_n_5281771.html

 

[zeeblofowl_1969]

This sounds like an Khmer Rouge type of program.

Without the genocide.

That is always the next step.
See catholic church......

 

[Jagger69]

Now, the convention delegates have included a hard-line immigration plank to further alienate the Hispanic vote:

FORT WORTH — Republican delegates Saturday returned the state party back to endorsing a hard-line stance on immigration — one that essentially guts a call for a guest worker program and endorses a prohibition on sanctuary cities along with ending in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants.

“What kind of message is that for Hispanic voters?” asked Norm Adams, a Houston-based immigration advocate who pushed for the guest worker plank. “As far as I’m concerned we’ve moved the party back 10 years.”

Viewed as a victory for factions of the far right, the state party adopted the immigration plank after hours of testy debate at its bi-annual convention.

Two years, ago delegates approved an immigration plank called the “Texas Solution,” which advocated for a temporary guest worker program.

It became the main target for tea party activists at this year’s convention, who were not only intent with doing away with the guest worker plank but had hoped to return the party’s official stance on immigration back to what it was in 2010.

“We won. They lost,” said Hollis Webber of Denton, who cheered the vote on the immigration plank while delegates around him were shaking their heads about what it included. “This changes makes sure the border is secured first, and that any guest worker program, if we have one, is far down the road until after the border is secured.”

Echoed Kenneth Perkins of Arlington, a self-professed hard-liner.

“Boom, the Texas Solution is dead,” he said after the vote.

More....

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Just two years after embracing a softer stance on immigration in hopes of wooing the state's surging Hispanic population, the Texas Republican Party has done an about-face.

It has gutted its own past initiative and now says not giving an inch on the issue will spell future success.

Democrats, who haven't won a statewide office in 20 years, say Texas' shifting demographics favor them. They insist such hard-line GOP policies will alienate more Hispanic Texans.

But the message from the tea party forces that dominated the party convention in Fort Worth was simple: We're sticking to our guns.

Dan Patrick, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, proclaimed: "We must not step back from being bold."

He and other tea party favorites carried the day at the convention, which concluded Saturday.

Sources:

http://blog.chron.com/texaspolitics...es-hard-line-immigration-position/#24081101=0
http://www.chron.com/news/texas/art...ictory-in-harsh-immigration-plank-5537433.php

Just for the record, I am all for securing our borders and enforcing our immigration laws. However, to deal with the existing multitudes of undocumented aliens who are presently living and working in the state of Texas in a "my way or the highway" fashion can only backfire on those who embrace such a policy. Besides, beyond the denial of any compromise such as temporary work permits or any sort of amnesty for those who meet certain criteria, they offer no legitimate or practical answer to the problem. No amnesty for anyone? OK....who is going to pay for the infrastructure that would be necessary to locate, detain and deport every single illegal immigrant back to their native country? It would literally cost billions of dollars to carry out. No temporary work permits for anyone? OK....get ready to pay a lot more for basic manual-labor services and any type of construction since many of those jobs are currently held by undocumented workers being paid a much lower wage than their anglo counterparts would demand to perform that type of labor.

These xenophobes who make caustic remarks about people speaking Spanglish while they are shopping at Wal-Mart are the same ones who would hire Miguel and his 3 brothers to cut their grass and manicure their lawn for $30/week. You can't have it all unless you're willing to compromise and these Tea Party lunatics quite obviously don;t want any part of that. Be careful what you wish for, Texas right-wingnuts. You've got a real good chance of getting it.

 

[xfire]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/12/anderson-cooper-texas-gay-conversion-therapy_n_5487576.html

Anderson Cooper battled Texas state representative Bryan Hughes on Wednesday night over his support for gay conversion therapy programs.

The Texas Republican party recently voted to endorse "reparative therapy" in their platform, which now says that "no laws or executive orders shall be imposed to limit or restrict access to this type of therapy."

Cooper hosted Hughes for Wednesday's "Keeping Them Honest" segment, and asked him to respond to medical professionals who have said that conversion therapy is harmful to kids.

Hughes said there is medical literature for both sides of the issue, but Cooper quickly challenged that idea and ticked off organization after organization of doctors who oppose conversion therapy.

“I could give you a list," he told Hughes. "The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Counseling Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the American School Counselors’ Association, the National Association of School Psychologists, National Association of Social Workers. They represent half a million mental health professionals, they all say [being gay] is not a mental disorder. It’s not something that needs to be cured."

Cooper also played a clip of Exodus International head Alan Chambers, who told the CNN host last year that he deeply regrets his work with conversion therapy and telling people that God does not love them if they are gay.

"No one is saying that God doesn’t love people as they are,” Hughes responded, adding, "Every one of us makes mistakes, makes decisions we’re not proud of."

"The fact that you view being gay — or you characterize it — as a ‘mistake,’ or something that should be changed really kind of maybe says more about your position than what your words actually say," Cooper said.

These fucking GOP losers just can't help themselves. If anything should be declared a mental disorder it's the far right obsession with religious based social conservatism.

 

[bobjustbob]

Re: Texas Republicans Include "Gay Therapy" Plank in Platform

Would these Tea Partyers support Obamacare if conversion therapy was worked into the plan?