adam zivo: republicans finally support gay marriage, and donald trump is why

earlier this month, the republicans released a new election platform that abandoned the party’s long-standing opposition to same-sex marriage. this development, alongside the inclusive language used at the republican national convention last week, suggests that american conservatives are evolving on gay rights, despite their hostility to trans activism.  

whereas previous platforms have always explicitly defined marriage as one man and one woman, the new platform, which was produced under the influence of former u.s. president donald trump, merely stated that “republicans will promote a culture that values the sanctity of marriage.”    

outside of this sentence, there was no mention of gay rights or marriage equality, suggesting that the party is willing to grant its members the freedom to define their own positions on these matters. the new platform similarly dropped any commitment to a national abortion ban, much to the chagrin of american religious leaders.  

in a public statement released last week, the log cabin republicans, an organization which represents lgbtq conservatives, lauded the party’s “visionary” change in attitude. they wrote that decades of advocacy work had “finally come to fruition” as the new platform looked “optimistically to the future instead of cynically rehashing old debates of the past.”  

that being said, republicans clearly remain at odds with more contentious forms of transgender activism. among other things, the new platform promised to ban transgender women from women’s sports, stop schools from promoting gender transitions and restore protections for women and girls by defining anti-discrimination protections on the basis of biological sex, not gender. however, more basic transgender rights — such as the right for adults to medically transition —  were not mentioned .  

the republicans are clearly experiencing a seismic shift on lgbtq rights. party leaders may be hostile to transgender activism, but they are increasingly embracing the gay community.    

this dichotomy was clearly on display at last week’s republican national convention, where a primetime speaking slot was given to richard grenell , an openly gay man who was previously trump’s director of national intelligence in 2020. “donald trump doesn’t care if you’re gay or straight, black, brown or white, or what gender you are,” said grenell. “he knows that we are all americans and that it’s time to put america first.”  

in contrast, other republican leaders at the convention condemned the inclusion of trans women in female sports, mocked the idea that there are more than two genders and derided progressive activists for their inability to clearly define what a woman is.    

the fact that republicans might oppose transgender activism, while still supporting gay rights, seemed to perplex and frustrate some progressive media outlets — even though there is growing societal awareness that homosexuals and transgender people may have different interests and should not automatically be grouped together, despite their historically interrelated activism.  

but this confusion is also understandable, because the republicans’ shift on gay rights is somewhat counterintuitive. though a clear majority of americans, including almost half of all republicans, support these rights, recent polling data suggests that this support is also rapidly declining.  

a gallup poll from last month found that 46 per cent of republicans support marriage equality. this is fairly high, but that number was 55 per cent two years ago. similarly, the proportion of republicans who described same sex relations as “morally acceptable” declined from 56 to 40 per cent during this same period. another recent poll, conducted by ipsos, confirmed the rapid erosion of american lgbtq acceptance across a wide variety of metrics.  

given this cultural trajectory, one would imagine that republican leaders might find it appealing to maintain their anti-gay stances — why alienate a socially conservative base for a cause that americans seem to be souring on? but this is where trump comes in.  

throughout his life, trump has made contradictory statements on same sex marriages and civil unions. yet, on the whole, his positions have clearly been more progressive than that of other republicans, which is unsurprising given that he has lived in manhattan for most of his life and was a registered democrat from 2001 to 2009.  

in 2016, trump was a political newcomer and apparently lacked the capacity to fully impose his vision on the republican party. the election platform was thus left in the hands of party activists who remained committed to old school social conservatism. just days after becoming president, though, he told the media that he was “fine with same-sex marriage” and that the supreme court, which had just legalized marriage equality the previous year, had “settled” the matter.  

however, the old platform was largely recycled for the 2020 election, with party officials claiming that the covid-19 pandemic had caused too many disruptions for a rewrite. absent this constraint, and now fully in charge, trump has allegedly demanded that this year’s platform directly reflect his views — so opposition to gay marriage is out, finally.  

on the whole, i am no fan of trump. i believe that his influence on american conservatism, and democracy in general, has been toxic. but credit should be given where it is due. for all his faults, he has pushed his party to unexpectedly evolve on gay rights. a generation ago, many democrats made a similar journey — even barack obama opposed same-sex marriage in 2008 before rethinking his position — and though republicans are just embarking down this path, hopefully trump will push them to see it through.