The keynote speaker—Texas Governor Rick Perry, however, received standing ovations with his speech: “Texas is a place to proud of and where 1,500 people a day want to be a part of our success and future. We live in the great State of Texas and in a wonderfully blessed Nation.”

The Texas GOP released its 2010 platform, which was finalized during its state convention two weeks ago in Dallas.  Among other things, the platform calls for again making sodomy a crime and for making it a felony to issue a same-sex marriage license.  The anti-gay language in the platform has prompted headlines on some blogs comparing Texas to the African nation of Uganda, which sought to impose the death penalty for homosexuality. (previous story)

Rick Perry, Governor of Texas. Assumed office on December 21, 2000.

In 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that consensual sex between gay men was not a crime. In Wasson v. the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the Kentucky Supreme Court reached the same ruling in 1992, over 10 years before the U.S. Supreme Court did.  The Kentucky Supreme Court decision was based solely on Kentucky law.

Log Cabin Republicans have work around the clock to get the anti-gay language removed, with little success.

“We oppose the legalization of sodomy,” the platform says. “We demand that Congress exercise its authority granted by the U.S. Constitution to withhold jurisdiction from the federal courts from cases involving sodomy.”

The Lone Star state initially passed a law barring sodomy in 1860. Violators faced anywhere from five to 15 years in prison. The ban was overturned in 2003.

In addition, the platform says that homosexuality “tears at the fabric of society, contributes to the breakdown of the family unit and leads to the spread of dangerous communicable diseases.”

It also states that homosexuality must not be presented as an acceptable “alternative” lifestyle in public schools and “family” should not be redefined to include homosexual couples.

The 25-page proposal, presented last week as a guide for the state GOP over the next two years, includes other measures including outlawing “sexually oriented businesses” like strip clubs and banning “all pornography.”

Flag of the Governor of Texas

Some delegates at the Republican state convention also called for a nonbinding resolution calling on House Republicans to oust their own Speaker, Representative Joe Straus of San Antonio, who is considered too moderate by many of the conservatives. However, convention organizers ruled the House Speaker Straus resolution “out of order.”

The immigration proposal, a hard-line approach that Governor Perry, who has repeatedly said that secession from the United States is an option for Texas, has said isn’t right for Texas, was one of several initiatives debated as delegates wrapped up the two-day convention. The Republican Party platform is a blueprint of the policies that GOP activists want elected officials to pursue.

Held every other year, it’s mostly designed as a giant pep rally to fire up Republicans ahead of the November elections. The choreographed convention began with prayers, video tributes and speeches by top Republican leaders, including Governor Perry.

On Saturday, the main guest speaker, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, told delegates that the stakes in the 2010 elections were “higher than any midterm election in my lifetime.” Governor Barbour urged activists to focus their ire not on each other but on the Democrats who had engineered the “biggest lurch to the left in American history.”

“We cannot forget unity because some people will let purity be the enemy of unity,” Governor Barbour said. “It’s a big party and we need everybody who is on our side.”

Republican Scott Brown won the special election to fill Kennedy’s empty seat.  Republicans in Washington, D.C. and around the country said Scott Brown’s victorious U.S. Senate campaign in Massachusetts is a harbinger of a broader party surge, calling it a repudiation of President Obama’s agenda that gives them renewed confidence for the 2010 midterm elections.

“If Democrats can’t sell their agenda in the bluest state in the country, they can’t sell it anywhere,” said Paul Lindsay, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, referring to Massachusetts. “To that end, it will have a significant ripple effect on campaigns across the country.”

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts was the first to legalize same-sex marriage.

Today, Massachusetts Equality (MassEquality) also conceded victory to Republican Scott Brown, who will join the U.S. Senate as a junior member.

This evening, Scott Brown was declared the victor in the U.S. Senate special election to fill the late Senator Ted Kennedy’s seat.

MassEquality congratulates our candidate, Attorney General Martha Coakley, on her hard-fought fight for the Senate seat.  She is, and will continue to be, our champion in the struggle for equal rights.

Going forward, MassEquality will endeavor to ensure that all citizens of the Commonwealth are represented in Washington by both of our senators.  We will not let anyone forget that equal marriage began here, and that the Commonwealth’s LGBT community deserves equal representation.

If this close election has taught us anything, it taught us this: Every voter, every supporter, and every volunteer counts. None of us can afford to sit back and assume “someone else” will do the job. None of us can afford to be apolitical. Our success hinges on each and every one of us. In the next three years, issues such as the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, an inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), and even a potential new move to pass an anti-marriage equality constitutional amendment may be coming to the floor of the Senate for a vote.  MassEquality will need your voice to advocate for our community to our new Senator.

Regardless of today’s outcome, I am proud that MassEquality played our part, and played it well.  We will be there in the upcoming Massachusetts legislative races as an electoral force.  We will be there to educate, advocate, and activate in the coming year.  We hope that you will continue to be there with us.

Sincerely,

Scott D. Gortikov
Executive Director

In 2009, the long time executive director of MassEquality, Marc Solomon resigned to join Equality California as their “Marriage Director” after they failed to stop Prop 8. The failure to stop Prop 8 sparked widespread outrage in California’s LGBT community. The measure passed even though a huge coalition was formed to stop it, including the Human Rights Campaign, National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, Equality California, Marriage Equality USA, and about 25 others.

After the failure to stop Prop 8, over 10 new organizations formed around the state, stating they had lost faith in the existing ones.