Reason #28 to Vote Blue on Nov 5—->
Harris clearly supports marriage equality!
In a September 29, 2022 statement about the passage of the 2022 “Respect for Marriage Act,” Harris recalls: “I had the honor to perform some of our nation’s first same-sex marriages at San Francisco City Hall in 2004, where couples celebrated not only a joyful union, but the protection and respect of fundamental human rights. The right to start a family and raise children. The right to be who you are, openly and proudly. The right to support the person you love, whether at a hospital bedside, a military deployment ceremony, or applying for citizenship.” I think it is clear where she stands.
The Republican Party does not support marriage equality in its platform and Trump will do what he always does – go along with his base.
We know that an overwhelming part of Trump’s base are those that identify as Christian evangelicals. We know that many evangelicals are strong political activists who do not approve of homosexuality and do not approve of gay marriage, and simultaneously abandoned the idea of separation of church and state and are steadily working to make their notion of Christianity the basis of all law; that is, they are Christian Nationalists (See Reason #19.).
The GOP Platform (on Trump’s web page) never actually mentions marriage equality or gender rights. Yet it does say, “To protect Religious Liberty, Republicans support a new Federal Task Force on Fighting Anti-Christian Bias that will investigate all forms of illegal discrimination, harassment, and persecution against Christians in America.” Sooo, no stated support for the rights of gay people, but a task force to protect Christian rights?
The only other mention of “Christian” in the GOP platform relates to vetting those that apply for citizenship: “Republicans will use existing Federal Law to keep foreign Christian-hating Communists, Marxists, and Socialists out of America. Those who join our Country must love our Country.” Wow. Kind of ignorant. A lot of socialists are Christians! I am an atheist and a democratic socialist and I love America deeply ever since I stood at attention in a Memorial Day Parade in Cub Scouts, many years ago.
You might think that no mention of marriage equality is not an especially big indicator of Trump’s opposition to Marriage Equality. But take a peek inside Project 2025; it should jar you. (Project 2025 is a document created by the Heritage Foundation to assist the next GOP President implement Christian nationalist ideas.) The following are just brief excerpts (there’s more!)
(Click here to get the PDF)
In the chapter called, “Restoring the Family,” Project 2025 aims to gut protections for the LGBTQ+ community, which is negatively contrasted with the “traditional American family” and whose civil rights are seen as opposed to the Project’s religious tenets. The Project would privilege “family authority, formation, and cohesion as their top priority and even use government power, including the tax code” to favor traditional families. … The Project claims falsely that only heterosexual, two-parent families are safe for children, and that “All other family forms involve higher levels of instability (the average length of same-sex marriages is half that of heterosexual marriages); financial stress or poverty; and poor behavioral, psychological, or educational outcomes.” (Their data on the length of marriages is false).
The plan … advocates “deleting the terms sexual orientation and gender identity (‘SOGI’), diversity, equity, and inclusion (‘DEI’), gender, gender equality, gender equity, gender awareness, gender-sensitive, abortion, reproductive health, reproductive rights, and any other term used to deprive Americans of their First Amendment rights out of every federal rule, agency regulation, contract, grant, regulation, and piece of legislation that exists.”
And it calls for the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) “antidiscrimination policy statements” to “never conflate sex with gender identity or sexual orientation.” …
It insists that sex discrimination should be restricted to a “biological binary meaning.” Guess that’s a fancy way to say, if two gay people claim their rights are restricted, they will have no basis in law to object.
Resources:
- Harris supports marriage equality: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/11/29/statement-by-vice-president-kamala-harris-on-the-respect-for-marriage-act/
- The last 4 paragraphs above the “Love your neighbor” graphic are taken from: “The Far-Right Playbook for American Authoritarianism: Project 2025” (Global Project Against Hate and Extremism): https://globalextremism.org/project-2025-the-far-right-playbook-for-american-authoritarianism/ Scroll down to the section titled, “Eviscerating LGBTQ+ Rights and Equality.”
