LGBTQ community calls GOP platform proposal more inclusive
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – A proposed change in the Republican Party platform in Indiana would alter the GOP stance on families and marriage.
The LGBTQ community said the change is more inclusive.
The change will be voted on next week at the party’s annual convention. Republicans would remove the phrase “based on marriage between a man and a woman” when talking about strong families in the 2018 platform.
“The prior sentence that said that was the only way to have a strong family; people felt excluded by that,” said Kyle Hupfer, the Indiana GOP Party chairman.
Hupfer said the change does not mean the party is straying from supporting marriages between men and women. It was designed to include other families with different heads of the household, such as grandparents.
The change has members of the LGBTQ community excited.
“We know that, 2 to 1, people favor same-sex marriage,” said Chris Paulsen, the executive director for Indiana Youth Group, which supports children in the LGBTQ community. “I think they’re going with the popular opinion, which is smart if you want to grow your party.”
Paulsen said Indiana being more inclusive could help slash its teen suicide rate, which is among the highest in the nation.
“We need to do everything we can to make Indiana more inclusive one so we have youth who grow up to be productive adults and, two, so when they are productive adults, they don’t move away from Indiana to go to a place that’s more welcoming,” Paulsen said.
But, Micah Clark from the American Family Association of Indiana said the Republican Party is already accepting.
Clark, who opposes gay marriage, said the current language from the party supports “loving adults” who raise children. His issue is getting rid of the word “marriage” from the section on strong families.
“Social research for decades has shown the importance of marriage over other living arrangements,” he said.
Paulsen said she disagrees with that assessment.
“Marriage is not important to have a loving strong family to raise a child in,” she said.
The vote is expected to take place during the Indiana Republican State Convention on June 8-9 in Evansville.