At the close of its annual convention on Saturday, the Texas GOP
formally approved a party platform plank that endorses "ex-gay" therapy.
The new anti-gay language was pushed through without debate at the Fort Worth conference as roughly 7,000 delegates ratified a party platform that tea party groups succeeded in pushing further to the right, including winning a harder line on immigration. One influential tea party group called Texas Eagle Forum had urged the party to support psychological treatments that seek to turn gay people straight. It comes after Republican New Jersey governor Chris Christie last fall signed a law banning such therapies on minors, and California enacted a similar law. The Fort Worth Convention Hall cheered when party leaders announced that Christie finished a distant 11th in a 2016 presidential straw poll.
The plank
reads: "We recognize the legitimacy and value of counseling which offers
reparative therapy and treatment to patients who are seeking escape from
the homosexual lifestyle. No laws or executive orders shall be imposed
to limit or restrict access to this type of therapy."
Labels: ex-gay, GOP, Texas, torture
