RNC Votes Unanimously to Reaffirm Party's Opposition to Same-Sex Marriage

The RNC has reportedly taken a unanimous vote to approve 12 resolutions, including one reaffirming the party's opposition to same-sex marriage, according to a tweet from Yahoo! political reporter Chris Moody.

Moody published the text of the resolution earlier this week.

CNN confirms the news.

FRC's Tony Perkins Tells Supporters: Stop Donating to the GOP

Family Research Ciuncil Tony Perkins has instructed his supporters to stop donating to the Republican Party, CNN reports:

Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, made the request in an email to supporters of his organization, as members of the Republican National Committee met in California to discuss campaign strategy and political messaging.

"Until the RNC and the other national Republican organizations grow a backbone and start defending core principles, don’t send them a dime of your hard-earned money," Perkins said in the email, a copy of which was obtained by CNN. "If you want to invest in the political process, and I encourage you to do so, give directly to candidates who reflect your values and organizations you trust-like FRC Action."

Perkins also signed a letter I reported on yesterday from 12 other conservative leaders urging the RNC to reaffirm support for DOMA and a federal amendment banning gay marriage or they were leaving the GOP.

Added Perkins in the email obtained by CNN:

"Instead of trying to appease millennials, Republicans should try educating them on why marriage matters. There’s an entire group of 'Countercultural Warriors' full of compelling young leaders who are all going to the mat to protect marriage."

RNC Committeeman Dave Agema Says Schools Will Turn Kids Gay

Michigan RNC Committeman Dave Agema, who has so far refused to resign for hateful remarks about gays on his Facebook page despite being asked to by Republican leadership, had a talk with hate group leader Tony Perkins, Right Wing Watch reports.

Agema compared homosexuality to alcoholism and drug abuse and then unleashed this zinger:

I think what the people have to know is if this passes, what will happen is it is just a progression of events that will occur. First of all, what will happen to your school kids when they are in school, it’s already being taught in a lot of places that it is an accepted lifestyle. Then the next thing that will occur is your kids will come home and say I think this is a good thing and I think I want to be one, and if you as a parent stand up and say this is against my moral beliefs and my biblical beliefs, then the next thing you’re going to get into is hate crimes because you’re speaking against something that’s been sanctioned by the state. If you look at Denmark and others then the state also tells the churches you have to marry homosexuals and if you don’t what may happen in the United States is you might lose your tax exempt status.

So this all blew up and so I made a web page here listing several other studies that show the harmful effects of the homosexual lifestyle. Just imagine this, if our kids are in school instead of being told that this is an acceptable and OK lifestyle we are actually briefed and taught the ramifications of this lifestyle, that you’re going to live twenty years less than the average person, you are going to die younger and here’s all the diseases you’re going to contract, there’d be a totally different philosophy here instead of basically telling the kids that this is good. So I think we got to go into this with our eyes wide open and what the 2 or 3 percent of homosexuals what they are doing in the United States today is trying to get the courts to do what they can’t get the individual states to do, and that’s dictate that all states will accept homosexual marriage.

(h/t zack ford at think progress)

Anti-Gay Leaders Threaten Leaving GOP: 'We Resent the Insinuation We Have Treated Homosexuals Unkindly'

The leaders of 13 social conservative (and hate) groups including Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, Phyllis Schlafly of the Eagle Forum, James Dobson of Family Talk Action and Marjorie Dannenfelser of Susan B. Anthony List have sent a letter to Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus (pictured) demanding the RNC reaffirm suppport for DOMA and a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

As I mentioned yesterday, the RNC, which is holding a three-day confab in L.A., plans to vote Friday on a similar measure submitted by state party leaders.

The WaPo reports:

“Republicans would do well to persuade young voters why marriage between a man and a woman is so important rather than abandon thousands of years of wisdom to please them,” they write. “We respectfully warn GOP Leadership that an abandonment of its principles will necessarily result in the abandonment of our constituents to their support.”

The group argues that existing gay GOP groups such as the Log Cabin Republicans and GOProud shows that there is no need to change party orthodoxy to create a bigger tent. “We deeply resent the insinuation that we have treated homosexuals unkindly personally,” they write.

They also suggest that better communication with social conservatives, “the experts on how to articulate those positions,” would have avoided some of the gaffes made by Republican candidates last year.

RNC to Vote on Resolution Affirming 'One Man One Woman' Marriage and Urging Supreme Court to Do the Same

The Republican National Committee is set to convene tomorrow at the Loews Hollywood Hotel in L.A. for a 3-day spring meeting where they will discuss the party's direction and vote on several motions, one of which would reaffirm party opposition to same-sex marriage, reports Chris Moody at Yahoo's The Ticket:

At the meeting, a group of state party leaders is expected to submit a set of proposals to the RNC's Resolution Committee that aim to "re-affirm conservative principles." One in particular will take the temperature of the party's opposition to same-sex marriage. (The official Republican platform, which was approved at the national convention last August, calls for a constitutional amendment that would effectively ban same-sex marriage.)

According to the text of a marriage resolution, which was acquired by Yahoo News, the RNC panel will vote on a resolution stating, "[T]he Republican National Committee affirms its support for marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and as the optimum environment in which to raise healthy children for the future of America; and be it further resolved, the Republican National Committee implores the U. S. Supreme Court to uphold the sanctity of marriage in its rulings on California’s Proposition 8 and the Federal Defense of Marriage Act."

While the result of the vote could reveal a headline-grabbing schism among party leaders over the issue, the same-sex marriage issue will likely not be the focal point of the conference.

The text of the resolution, via Yahoo! (click to enlarge):

UPDATE:

Zack Ford at Think Progress notes that the six points the resolution attempts to make are backed up by citations from Mark Regnerus's politically-motivated junk science study on the inferiority of same-sex parenting or NOM's talking points.

Senator Susan Collins Probably Won't Be the Next Republican to Evolve on Marriage Equality

Amid speculation that Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) might be evolving like Rob Portman and Mark Kirk on marriage equality, the HuffPost made an inquiry. Nope:

"My view is the same that it's always been," Collins told The Huffington Post. "I think this is a matter of state law."

Collins, a moderate Republican up for reelection in 2014, said states have traditionally handled family law and should continue to do so. She noted that she voted twice, in 2004 and in 2006, against federal constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage because, "I believe it should be left up to the states."

She declined to elaborate on her own personal views about gay marriage, instead reiterating that the matter should be left up to states to decide.