Two Republican gay rights groups said on they had been denied booths at the party's upcoming Texas convention on Thursday after being told their sexuality are opposite to the party's views, according to Reuters.
The Metroplex Republicans and the national Log Cabin Republicans said at a news conference in Fort Worth that state GOP leadership had denied them permission for the booths at the June 5-7 convention, due to their support for gay rights, Reuters reported.
"It's time that the Texas GOP's hypocritical policies and procedures are replaced by new ones that match the general opinion of Texan Republican voters," Log Cabin Republicans of Texas Chairman Jeffrey Davis said, according to Reuters. The Texas Republican Party did not respond to requests for comment.
The party platform states: "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, recognized by our country's founders, and shared by the majority of Texans," Reuters reported.
The political spectrum for gay rights in the United States has been rapidly shifting as courts across the country strike down state bans on same-sex marriage, according to Reuters. Nineteen states have already legalized gay marriage.
Major urban areas in Texas have thriving homosexual gay and lesbian communities with voters in Houston electing as mayor an openly lesbian candidate and Dallas County voters electing a lesbian as sheriff, Reuters reported.
Federal lawsuits filed last week in Montana and South Dakota leave just one state, North Dakota, with a gay marriage ban that's not facing some form of legal challenge, according to Reuters.
State marriage bans have been falling around the country since the U.S. Supreme Court last year struck down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. Now, in 30 states, judges are being asked whether gays should have the right to marry, Reuters reported.
