When Republicans at their national convention laid out their vision for the party excluding same-sex marriage, a former top Delaware party official told them they got it “very, very wrong.”
In a video posted this week from the convention floor in Cleveland, John Fluharty, who worked as the state party’s executive director from 2012-2015 and is gay, decried the platform as a step back.
The 66-page platform document refers to “natural marriage” as one between “one man and one woman” and blasted the Supreme Court’s decision legalizing same-sex marriage.
Fluharty, who previously worked on presidential campaigns for Bob Dole and Newt Gingrich, says the language is exclusionary and ultimately alienates voters who could help them win elections.
“What LGBTQ families need now are the same things that straight families need and that is: lower taxes, a growing economy and new, high paying jobs,” he said.
Despite the Trump-Pence ticket and heavily influential forces in the GOP opposing same-sex marriage, Fluharty says the party won’t ultimately implode due to shifting demographics across America.
To him, the problem is generational.
“The party can survive. You’re seeing a new generation of folks coming up in the ranks, it’s just going to take a little bit of time before those folks are in the positions of leadership.”
He notes cutting out the “extreme” right wing of the party could lead to a more welcoming environment, though such a job would be difficult.
The GOP failed to follow a similar pro-inclusion post-mortem report after Mitt Romney lost to President Obama in 2012.
