Presumably in response to the Democratic plans to include platform language specifically affirming support for same-sex marriage, Republicans are planning the most dramatic possible step.
Brace yourselves for this one:
A subcommittee of the Republican National Committee's platform-drafting committee passed language this morning stating: "We embrace the principle that all Americans have the right to be treated with dignity and respect," the head of the Log Cabin Republicans told BuzzFeed.
Oh my goodness! That is right, while the GOP platform will almost certainly end up opposing gay marriage and demanding America keep pressing forward with the Defense of Marriage Act in order to make darn sure government codifies just how
much the GOP opposes it, the Log Cabin Republicans may have won a major victory here with a one sentence statement that maybe all Americans ought to be treated with "dignity and respect"—as long as that respect doesn't interfere with passing laws limiting their human rights, of course. They'll just
respect folks while doing it.
The suggestion that the GOP may support treating fellow Americans with "dignity and respect" is hardly a done deal, though:
The move was "still early in process," Log Cabin Republicans executive direction R. Clarke Cooper told BuzzFeed.
The Republicans are really going to have to think this thing through, after all. How much dignity are we talking about? How much respect? I mean, not enough
respect to treat them like full human beings, of course, but will the respect be bigger than a breadbox? What would it mean with regards to asserting gay Americans are unfit parents, or dangerous to children, or Satan's personal tools in luring otherwise upstanding Republican legislators into dirty, dirty airport sex?
This, though, is just sad. You have to feel sorry for the Log Cabin Republicans at this point:
Although the language, which Cooper said had been proposed by a delegate from Hawaii, did not specifically address sexual orientation or gender identity, inclusion of such language would be a positive nod in the direction of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and LGBT rights groups like Log Cabin Republicans.
They're happy to get language suggesting that the GOP, in theory, agrees that "all" Americans deserve "dignity and respect," even without anything that might suggest the GOP includes
them in that "all" part. That's just depressing.