As many casual political observers prepare for their first encounter with the GOP presidential candidates—well, 10 of them anyway—in Thursday night’s debate, some good news from Cleveland: The Republican National Committee resisted attempts by members who are hostile to LGBTQ rights to shape party policy. According to a report in Time, the RNC resolutions committee rejected two anti-gay resolutions at its summer meeting on Wednesday.
The first resolution, introduced by embattled Michigan national committeeman Dave Agema, would have encouraged “schools that are teaching the homosexual lifestyle in their sexual education class also include the harmful physical aspects of the lifestyle.” The second, which would have encouraged Congress and states to pass laws in an effort to nullify June’s Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, was introduced by Louisiana national committeeman Ross Little, Jr.
Agema, a former Air Force fighter pilot who served three terms in the Michigan House of Representatives before becoming the Republican National Committeeman for the state of Michigan, has a history of making racist, Islamophobic, and homophobic statements. His resolution was defeated by voice vote. According to the Washington Blade, no vote took place on the second resolution; it was withdrawn by its sponsor, who “asked to postpone his measure until the winter meeting in January.”
According to Time, only four resolutions were sent to the full Republican National Committee: “one condemning Planned Parenthood amid recent controversial videos about fetal tissue, another condemning President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, a resolution on judicial overreach, and a fourth honoring a recently deceased former RNC member.”
