WASHINGTON – The Democratic Party’s new platform is set to include a plank endorsing the legalization of homosexual marriage, marking the first time that either major party has taken such a position, several media outlets reported July 30.
A 15-member platform draft committee approved the pro-homosexual marriage language, according to Politico.com. One source told the news site it was “not controversial.” The language won’t become official until the full platform committee meets Aug. 10, Politico.com said.
The news was met with great concern by the Missouri Baptist Convention.
“For the Democrats to associate homosexual rights as somehow equal to other civil rights is a slap in the face to the black community who really had legitimate gripes about how America was treating them 40-50 years ago,” said David Krueger, chairman, MBC Christian Life Commission, and pastor, First Baptist Church, Linn. “Now you have the Democratic platform equating homosexual rights with the civil rights of the 1960s. That’s just unbelievable that they would do that and get away with it.”
One way for Missouri Southern Baptists to process this news item is to focus on the importance of worldview.
“Whether you are a Democrat, Republican, or Independent, whatever you have historically been in your views, it is incumbent upon us as Christians to bring our worldview into line with what the Scripture says,” Krueger said.
Rep. Barney Frank, D.-Mass., who is homosexual, told the Washington Blade newspaper that the party’s position has been established by President Obama – who endorsed gay marriage in May – and by House leaders. A Democratic National Committee staffer also told the Blade the proposed language rejects the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law that defines marriage as between a man and a woman and gives states the option of not recognizing another state’s homosexual marriages.
The Democrats’ 2008 platform did not endorse homosexual marriage explicitly, saying, “We support the full inclusion of all families, including same-sex couples, in the life of our nation.” The Republicans’ 2008 platform endorsed a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman. It said, “Because our children’s future is best preserved within the traditional understanding of marriage, we call for a constitutional amendment that fully protects marriage as a union of a man and a woman, so that judges cannot make other arrangements equivalent to it. In the absence of a national amendment, we support the right of the people of the various states to affirm traditional marriage through state initiatives.”
The foundation for the Democrat Party’s 2012 decision on the new platform plank may have come from a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision that prevented states from outlawing private sexual behavior between consenting adults and negated the anti-sodomy laws of 17 states, according to columnist Pat Buchanan.
Buchanan cited the dissent of Justice Antonin Scalia who wrote that the court had “taken sides in the culture war” and “largely signed on to the so-called homosexual agenda.” The decision “effectively decrees the end of all morals legislation” and makes same-sex marriage a logical result, Scalia wrote.
Krueger said Scalia “was exactly right. Now the homosexual community has redefined marriage with the help of the Democrats.” (Baptist Press contributed to this report.)