Politics

Phyllis Schlafly urges RNC to reaffirm opposition to same-sex marriage

(Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
W. James Antle III Managing Editor
Font Size:

Longtime social conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly has asked the Republican National Committee to reaffirm the party’s opposition to same-sex marriage at its next meeting.

“We expect all Republican officials to uphold the Platform,” she wrote in a letter to RNC Chairman Reince Preibus. “The endorsement of same-sex marriage is not acceptable.”

The 2012 Republican platform endorsed the federal Defense of Marriage Act, saying that Barack Obama’s position on the law “makes a mockery of the Presidential oath.” The platform also praised “citizens of the majority of states which have enshrined in their constitutions the traditional concept of marriage” as a union between one man and one woman.

Schlafly confirmed to The Daily Caller News Foundation that her letter was motivated in part by the pro-gay marriage amicus brief filed by Republicans she described as “has-beens and people I’ve never heard of.” (RELATED: Prominent conservatives defend gay marriage before Supreme Court)

While Schlafly declined to predict what the Supreme Court would decide in the pending same-sex marriage cases, she criticized the notion that “in a country of hundreds of millions of people, five people can overturn all the state and federal laws” pertaining to marriage. She pointed to the more than 1,000 legal incidents of marriage that would be impacted, based on a 1997 General Accounting Office report.

Schlafly also told The DCNF that GOP campaign committees should not fund pro-gay marriage candidates. “Absolutely not,” she said. “This should be a litmus test issue.”

While some prominent Republican strategists and donors have begun to push the GOP to change its position on marriage, Schlafly said she is confident that the vast majority of Republicans were standing firm. She also confirmed that she received a “very courteous” reply to her letter from Preibus, but that the chairman did not commit one way or the other.

Schlafly, the president of Eagle Forum, was a member of the platform committee at the GOP convention in 2012.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Tags : gay marriage
W. James Antle III