WASHINGTON, D.C., August 7, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) – A day before the first debate of the 2016 presidential cycle on August 6, the Republican National Committee (RNC)'s resolution committee rejected three marriage resolutions.
As first reported by The Washington Blade, two of the resolutions were pro-marriage, while one pushed for acceptance of differing opinions on marriage among the 2016 GOP candidates.
The only resolution of the three that was voted on by the committee would have had the RNC endorse that “schools that are teaching the homosexual lifestyle in their sexual education class also include the harmful physical aspects of the lifestyle.”
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The resolution noted that cigarette warnings are provided as a matter of public health, and it cited the Centers for Disease Control to show that the same-sex sexual lifestyle reduces health and causes various illnesses in the LGBT community. It was introduced by Michigan national committeeman Dave Agema, who has been in hot water with national and state party officials for Facebook posts discussing the harms of same-sex sexual relationships on the human body. He was censured for this, as well as for posting a commentary about racial differences among criminals that endorsed the idea that blacks are inferior to whites.
A second resolution encouraged Congress to fully federalize marriage, an action that would attempt to invalidate the Supreme Court's recent marriage decision. This resolution was put off until the winter meeting.
A third resolution would have “RESOLVED that the Republican National Committee recognizes and respects the right of Republican presidential candidates to express their individual positions on this Supreme Court decision and reiterates our commitment to support and promote our nominee, regardless of their expressed opinion on Obergefell v. Hodges.” That resolution was not considered because the other two did not pass.
While the RNC did not respond to multiple requests for comment, the chairman of the Michigan Young Republicans, Christopher Arndt, told LifeSiteNews, “I think the primary reason the resolution was declined by the RNC has more to do with the person putting forward the resolution.” According to Arndt, Agema's “primary source for the 'scientific realities,' as he phrases it, are white supremacists and Nazis.”
“That's not exactly the kind of association that we want to tie into Republican ethos,” explained Arndt, who said that killing the message because of the messenger “happens a lot in politics.”
When LifeSiteNews asked about the use of CDC numbers by Agema, Arndt said that “it's killing the message because of the messenger. He is the one that comes across as the guy that hates a facet or a section of possible constituents.”
“The RNC is desperately trying to avoid any and all impressions of creating a 'Republicans versus homosexuals' adversarial relationship,” said Arndt. “The purpose of a partisan organization, first and foremost, is to court votes. I think it's up to elected officials to serve the best interests of the constituents at all times. But a political party will usually put that as a secondary concern to the whole idea of getting its membership elected to public office.”
Arndt said that while he backs the RNC's position on Agema's resolution, he also believes that the RNC's position “should be to leave [sexual education] to local government or communities.”
While men who have sex with men make up perhaps two to four percent of the U.S. population, they make up more than 60 percent of new HIV/AIDS cases each year. Studies have shown that those who engage in same-sex sexual relationships have average life spans two decades shorter than that of the average American, though the life span difference has narrowed dramatically with the advent of antiretroviral drugs.
RNC chairman Reince Priebus has stated that the GOP is “a party that believes marriage ought to be between one man and one woman. That's our party platform, and it's a position I've never backed away from.”
Earlier this year, Priebus told LifeSiteNews, “As far as our party is concerned, we believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. I think all of our [2016 presidential] candidates will, too.”
At the 2014 CPAC, however, Priebus told then-National Review Online reporter Betsy Woodruff that “I'm not walking on down the street [talking about marriage], but if someone wants to ask me, like you did, I didn't dance” around the issue, either. “I answered the question head-on, I'm very clear, and that's what you should expect out of the party.”
The Blade says the odds of the two resolutions not put forth by Agema being introduced during this election cycle are slim.
