Separately, a party platform presented to convention delegates called homosexuality “an abnormal lifestyle choice.” According to the Texas Tribune, the platform also advocates for children to learn in school about “the humanity of the unborn child,” promoting new messages after the state has moved to broadly restrict abortion.
And less than a month after 19 children and two teachers were shot to death at a Texas elementary school, convention delegates adopted a formal “reprimand” Sen. John Cornyn (R) for participating in bipartisan talks on gun control. The attendees also loud booed him when he gave a speech at the convention on Friday when he tried to explain the potential legislation.
The resolutions of the convention and the platform do not have the force of law, but they are intended to serve as a mission statement for the Republican Party’s activities in the state over the next two years. It also offers a window into how the Republican base has been moving further to the right and how the rejection of Biden’s 2020 electoral victory has become a key tenet for the party.
The rhetoric about gay rights in particular represents a setback after years of growing comfort within the GOP with equal rights for gay Americans, and polls show a large majority of voters now support same-sex marriage. gender and opposes discrimination.
It comes amid a rise in hate speech and violence directed at LGBTQ people and a new push among staunch conservative circles to attack even the mere mention of sexuality as a way to “groom” children.
the Texas Tribune reported that party delegates rejected an effort to soften language on homosexuality from a delegate who said it would not help the party.
“We are the Republican Party of Texas, not the Westboro Baptist Church,” the Tribune reported the delegate as saying, referring to the extremist church whose members travel the country to hold anti-gay rallies at public events. The Tribune said other delegates at the convention, which ran from Thursday to Saturday, laughed and booed at the comment.
The votes of the more than 5,000 delegates in attendance on whether to formally accept the language on the platform have yet to be counted, but party chairman James Wesolek said the boards presented to delegates are generally accepted.
The party also barred the Log Cabin Republicans, a longtime group representing gay Republicans, from having a booth at the convention, a decision that drew a rebuke from Donald Trump Jr., who said in a statement to Breitbart that it amounted to “cancel a group of gay conservatives who are in the gap with us.”
Intra-party divisions were also on display in a video released by right-wing personality Alex Stein showing Stein and his supporters accosting Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Tex.) in a hotel hallway, calling him a traitor and “McCain eye patch,” a slur coined by the Fox News personality Tucker Carlson. For months, Crenshaw, who wears an eye patch due to an injury sustained while serving as a Navy SEAL in Afghanistan, has been heckled. as a Republican in name only, or RINO, like the late former Senator John McCain.
In response, Crenshaw tweeted: “This is what happens when angry boys like @alexstein99 don’t grow up and can’t get girlfriends.”
Although a wide range of Republican figures came forward this weekend to denounce the treatment of the elected official and military veteran, the confrontation it was a reminder of the internal divisions within the GOP and how activists now reject even once popular and loyal figures.
Meanwhile, the party adopted a resolution declaring that the 2020 election violated the US Constitution and that “substantial voter fraud in key metropolitan areas significantly affected the results.”
“We reject the certified results of the 2020 Presidential Election and hold that Acting President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was not lawfully elected by the people of the United States,” the resolution continued.
The move came days after the House committee investigating the attack on the US Capitol on January 6 presented evidence showing that top campaign advisers to Donald Trump and other members of his inner circle The former president was repeatedly told that the fraud claims were false. But the Texas resolution shows the extent to which Trump’s obsession with the election has taken root as a core belief for his party.
“It’s like these people live in some kind of parallel universe filled with hate and conspiracy and with a distorted view of our democracy and Constitution,” said Gilberto Hinojosa, chairman of the Texas Democratic Party. “It’s almost like these people are on a drug-induced psychotic trip.”
Texas faces a key gubernatorial election in November that will pit incumbent Governor Greg Abbott against Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke. As the convention opened Thursday, party chairman Matt Rinaldi predicted the GOP would make gains in the fall.
“A red wave will sweep across Texas and this nation and a new era will begin,” he said, urging the party to “take the fight squarely to the left and go on the offensive.”
“This means using our statewide majority to define the debate. This means influencing public opinion rather than following the polls,” she said.
The rebuke of Cornyn, a popular figure among Texas Republicans who won the 2020 re-election nomination with 76 percent of the vote, shows the unwillingness of the party faithful to offer concessions on gun rights, even when polls show that a large majority of Americans favor Congress. action.
Cornyn is part of a bipartisan group of senators that includes 10 Republicans who have advanced a framework for new gun provisions, including closing the so-called boyfriend loophole, federal grants to urge states to adopt red flag laws that allow authorities to keep guns away from people deemed to pose a threat to themselves or others and expanded background checks for gun buyers under the age of 21. Senators have yet to translate the broad agreement into legislative language.
Aides involved in the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity to candidly describe their status said the talks continued productively over the weekend and there was no sign the backlash from Texas had changed their trajectory. Senate leaders expect to hold votes on the deal later this week.
The GOP statewide resolution offers a glimpse of the pressure being put on Cornyn from the right as he tries to navigate the negotiations. He rejects red flag laws, waiting periods and restrictions on younger gun buyers, stating that “those under the age of 21 are more likely to be victims of violent crime and therefore more likely to need fend”.
After he was booed on Friday, Cornyn Retweeted journalist Scott Braddock, who reported that Cornyn had been telling his followers: “I have never given in to mobs and I will not start today.”
Mike DeBonis contributed to this report.
Reference-www.washingtonpost.com