Anti-Gay Texas GOP Platform Adds Fuel to Davis Campaign

In light of last week's meeting of the Texas GOP, when delegates approved language in the party platform advocating reparative therapy for LGBT citizens, the idiom "shooting fish in a barrel" could be considered an apt description of the difficulty in which Democratic candidates in the Lone Star State will face in wooing LGBT voters come November. And Democratic gubernatorial nominee, Texas State Sen. Wendy Davis, appears to have the muzzle of her shotgun placed firmly in said "barrel."

In an address during a Human Rights Campaign PAC and Texas Equity PAC event Friday, in Austin, Davis took aim at the new plank language on LGBT rights in the Texas GOP platform.

"We know what they really believe and think about people who don't look like them or come from where they come from," Davis said during her address which recently surfaced on YouTube. "And we also know, as a consequence of what's been going on with their decisions and their platform on LGBT rights, exactly where their values are in that regard."

Davis' remarks came in response to a draft version of the party platform obtained by the Antonio Express-News/Houston Chronicle, convention delegates have stripped language from the party's plank on homosexuality that said:

We affirm that the practice of homosexuality tears at the fabric of society and contributes to the breakdown of the family unit. Homosexual behavior is contrary to the fundamental, unchanging truths that have been ordained by God.

In its place, delegates have inserted language supporting gay conversion therapy.

We recognize the legitimacy and value of counseling which offers reparative therapy and treatment to patients who are seeking escape from the homosexual lifestyle. No laws or executive orders shall be imposed to limit or restrict access to this type of therapy.

According to the Texas Observer, the Davis campaign assert that her pro-equality positions aren't politically motivated, pointing to an October 18, 2012 debate for her senate seat that remarked on the Texas Democratic Party's call to repeal the state's ban on same-sex marriage.

"Some of my very dearest and closest friends have some of the most wonderful families, admirable families that I've ever had the opportunity to know and observe," Davis remarked of same-sex couples. "And I'm hopeful that one day, Texas will come to a place where it allows the recognition of that union in the same way that it does others."

Davis' comments on LGBT rights should come as no surprise to Log Cabin Republican Executive Director, Gregory T. Angelo, who in a press conference expressed concern about how the Texas GOP's anti-gay policies could end up costing votes come November.

"Make no mistake: This isn't about disagreements we may have on civil marriage; this isn't about the party platform -- this is about an anti-gay wing of the party that hates gay people so much they can't even stand to see us acknowledged as a necessary part of a winning Republican coalition," Angelo said. "At a time when Democrats are working overtime to turn Texas from red to purple and then a vibrant blue, now is not the time for the politics of subtraction and division in the GOP; it is time for addition and multiplication. The Texas State GOP and its leadership ignore that advice at their peril."

According to the Huffington Post, polling results show that Davis trails Republican candidate State Attorney General Greg Abbott by 14 points.