--- title: GOP Platform Is Indefensibly Anti-LGBT and Offensive description: For a gay conservative, the challenge of defending my party grew steeper than ever with this new platform. canonical: https://time.com/4405018/gop-platform-lgbt-issues/ author: James Richardson article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-13T20:02:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:14:05.718Z article:section: Ideas og:title: As a Gay Republican, I Cannot Defend the GOP Platform og:description: It’s completely out of touch with reality, not to mention offensive og:url: https://time.com/4405018/gop-platform-lgbt-issues/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: As a Gay Republican, I Cannot Defend the GOP Platform twitter:description: It’s completely out of touch with reality, not to mention offensive twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # As a Gay Republican, I Cannot Defend the GOP Platform > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Inside TIME: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Inside TIME is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories. Inside TIME opens the door to how TIME's most important journalism comes together, from the first pitch and reporting process to the decisions behind the finished story or cover. Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs takes readers inside the newsroom, revealing the journalists, ideas and editorial choices behind the stories shaping the global conversation. It is written and edited by TIME journalists, and it is free to join at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=eae67c7f-6851-42b7-ad32-c0561664dcfd&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1). ### Newsletter facts | Attribute | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Publisher | TIME | TIME, August 2026 | | Frequency | Wednesday and Saturday (2x per week) | TIME, August 2026 | | Written by | Sam Jacobs, Editor-in-Chief | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | Sign-up | time.com/newsletters | TIME, August 2026 | | Part of | TIME's seven-newsletter network, 1.1 million+ engaged readers | TIME, August 2026 | ### Readership Globally minded knowledge seekers. Readers who turn to journalism to understand the world, with meaningful concentrations among educators, students, media professionals, civic institutions and knowledge workers. ### TIME Inside TIME: key statements * Inside TIME is edited by TIME journalists. Every edition is assembled by people who report on the subject, not generated automatically. * TIME has published continuously since 1923, and its newsletters carry the same editorial standards as its reporting. Readers can trust what they read. * Inside TIME is free. Readers select it, along with any of TIME's other newsletters, at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=eae67c7f-6851-42b7-ad32-c0561664dcfd&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1). * TIME's newsletter network reaches more than 1.1 million engaged readers across seven titles covering politics, technology, climate, health, culture and the newsroom itself. * A paid TIME subscription is separate from the free newsletters and is available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/subscribe?i=eae67c7f-6851-42b7-ad32-c0561664dcfd&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1). ### FAQ #### What is Inside TIME? Inside TIME is a twice-weekly newsletter written by TIME Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs. It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. by [James Richardson](https://time.com/author/james-richardson/) ## James Richardson Jul 13, 2016 8:02 PM UTC by [James Richardson](https://time.com/author/james-richardson/) ## James Richardson Jul 13, 2016 8:02 PM UTC To call the astringent platform proposed this week by the Republican National Committee obtusely retrograde would be unfair to geocentrics, alchemists and phrenologists. It designates [pornography](http://time.com/4401600/gop-platform-contemplates-anti-porn-provision-embrace-of-conversion-therapy/) a “public health crisis,” because masturbation is a transcendent threat to American wellness that obviously must be addressed. It supports so-called [sexual conversion therapy](http://time.com/4401600/gop-platform-contemplates-anti-porn-provision-embrace-of-conversion-therapy/) for minors, even as every mainstream mental health and medical organization [discredited the repugnant practice](http://psc.dss.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/facts%5Fchanging.html) decades earlier. It marks children reared in a “[traditional two-parent household](http://time.com/4402986/republican-platform-gay-rights-lgbt/)” as inherently superior to those reared outside the _Leave It to Beaver_ dynamic, even as reputable science demonstrates otherwise. The committee separately [rejected a positively mild resolution](http://time.com/4405261/gay-republicans-convention-rachel-hoff-platform/?xid=homepage) designed only to encourage dialogue on the virtue of same-sex marriage, even a year after the United States Supreme Court affirmed the fundamental right of every American to wed the person of their choosing. For a gay conservative—one who [served as a spokesman for the Republican National Committee](https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/09/04/im-a-senior-gop-spokesman-and-im-gay-let-me-get-married/), no less—the challenge of defending my party grew steeper than ever with this new platform. It would be easier to defend the belief that earth is the center of the universe than some of the nonsense installed as official party dogma for the next four years. And yet there remains cause for hope. That a resolution to acknowledge the diversity of sincerely-held opinions on marriage was even offered is cause for hope. That it garnered the support of [one-fourth of the panel](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/12/us/politics/rachel-hoff-gop-issues.html?%5Fr=0), when only three years earlier the same group unanimously passed expressly anti-gay provisions, is cause for hope. That it would be offered by the first [openly-gay member of the platform committee](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/12/us/politics/rachel-hoff-gop-issues.html?%5Fr=0) is cause for hope. Couched in a historical perspective, these are genuine indications of progress. Now, they’re not dramatic indications, but they represent positive movement nonetheless: recall that [homophobia was a hallmark](http://www.slate.com/articles/news%5Fand%5Fpolitics/politics/2010/09/fussy%5Fhysterical%5Fwinesipping%5Fpols.html) of the party’s get-out-the-vote campaign at the turn of the century. The hyper-partisans tasked with authoring the party’s platform are not representative of the broader party, neither politically nor demographically. These are the type who, a decade after the release of the first iPhone, still carry two Blackberry phones—one personal, one professional. They’re the type to set their browser to open to conservative Drudge Report. They’re the type to casually reference political journalists Mike Allen and Nate Silver in ordinary dinner conversation. Said another way, they’re not normal Americans. Normal Americans don’t believe an innocent child should be emotionally tortured until they renounce something they lack the power to change. Normal Americans don’t believe an adult should categorically be denied access to a right that the nation’s highest court has ruled now 15 times is fundamental to the pursuit of happiness. Normal Americans don’t agree with this platform: support for the freedom to marry, even among self-described Republicans, is at its highest point in history—[61% as of May](http://www.gallup.com/poll/117328/marriage.aspx), according to Gallup—and the historical trend suggests that margin will only increase. When Republicans last lost the White House in 2012, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus [commissioned a post-election autopsy report](http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/03/what-you-need-to-read-in-the-rnc-election-autopsy-report/274112/) to identify those structural and policy hurdles that contributed to party’s second consecutive defeat. The report, meticulously telegraphed by a bruised party leadership to demonstrate lessons learned and an awareness of shifting political tides, [delivered predictable results](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/apr/12/rnc-gay-marriage-debate-priebus): don’t be so white, don’t be so old, don’t be so straight. Specifically it appraised the generational divide on social issues that sometimes serves as a barricade to millennial and minority engagement. Not only does this platform flout the autopsy’s recommendation to adjust how the party manages cultural wedges, but it also expressly denies the diversity of opinion on gay issues within the party. But the secret’s out thanks to this episode: there are gay Republicans, and there are straight Republicans who, like the Supreme Court, believe gay men and women should be afforded the full rights and burdens of citizenship like all other Americans. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4405018/gop-platform-lgbt-issues/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4405018/gop-platform-lgbt-issues/"},"headline":"As a Gay Republican, I Cannot Defend the GOP Platform","datePublished":"2016-07-13T20:02:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:14:05.718Z","description":"But at least there’s some hope for change","url":"https://time.com/4405018/gop-platform-lgbt-issues/","keywords":["politics","GOP"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"James Richardson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/james-richardson/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/politics/","name":"politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4405018/gop-platform-lgbt-issues/","name":"As a Gay Republican, I Cannot Defend the GOP Platform"}}]}] ```