Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Platforms and gay marriage and state rights

Sandwich eating for me. In a comment below I said my party has been pretty consistent about not leaving non-discrimination to the states. But our national party platform does indeed leave it to the states to decide about gay "marriage", though seeking equal treatment:

We support full inclusion of gay and lesbian families in the life of our nation and seek equal
responsibilities, benefits, and protections for these families. In our country, marriage has been defined at the state level for 200 years, and we believe it should continue to be defined there. We repudiate President Bush's divisive effort to politicize the Constitution by pursuing a "Federal Marriage Amendment."


In Minnesota, the DFL does not take any position on whether civil rights safeguards for sexual orientation should be state or federal or both, simply stating:
We Oppose:
Discrimination against any person on the basis of race, creed, religion, sex, sexual or affectional orientation, HIV status, marital or homemaker status, disability or age.

The Texas Democratic Platform does not reference sexual orientation specifically but says this:
Democrats believe our Constitution is intended to prohibit discrimination in all forms; Republicans wish to make it a tool of discrimination.

I can't figure out whether they mean state or federal Constitution, so I can't tell whether Texas Dems see this as a federal or state issue.

[Update:  added links for the party platforms]

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