Issue Position: LGBTQI

Issue Position

The situation of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Queer, and Intersex individuals in our society has come a long way in the past 50 years, but it still is fraught with peril and inequality. While many states have instituted same-sex marriage or civil unions to extend the rights of opposite-sex marital partners to their homosexual or bisexual equivalents, other states have passed laws and Constitutional amendments stating that they will not respect the full faith and credit clause of the US Constitution. Texas has gone so far that if the law was properly enforced, they would not respect opposite-sex marriage because it is a similar institution to same-sex marriage.

There remains no equal employment opportunity status on the federal level for LGBTQI individuals outside of federal employment. Private employers across most of the United States are free to terminate the employment of individuals because they have a particular sexual orientation or gender identity.

Stewart Alexander and Alex Mendoza accept the full and total equality of the LGBTQI community and members from this community are represented on the Campaign Committee. We believe this stance is echoed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 1:

"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."

Same Sex Marriage

We believe that family values are an important aspect of society and that the US government should ensure that all its citizens can participate in family life freely and equally. The ironically named Defense of Marriage Act must be repealed and the institution of full and equal same-sex marriage should be instituted by the federal government as a civil rights issue. The same rights to visit your spouse while they are in the hospital, inheritance, adoption rights, access to healthcare, and tax benefits should be available to all people regardless of their sexual orientation.

Marriage has been a legal status, in the Western tradition, longer than it has been a religious institution. The Catholic Church had changed that in the Dark Ages when the constant rise and fall of political institutions invalidated marriages; before that marriage was considered too impure for the Church because of its relation to sexual activities. Though it is not our place to mingle Church and State by forcing any religious institution or minister to perform these marriages, it is a mingling of Church and State to prevent same-sex marriages by religious officials and not allow magistrates to perform marriages with equal legal standing.

Employment Equality

All residents should have an equal ability to obtain and maintain a job they are qualified for. Outside of, perhaps, the sex industry, there can be no valid pretext for discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Therefore, protections must be put in place, to be enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, to ensure that all people are protected on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Transitioning Services

Transgendered individuals vary in their reaction to the division between their biological sex and their mental gender. While some are content to occasionally cross dress in private, others find being trapped in a body of the wrong sex reason to go through reckless mutilation, dangerous self-medication of hormones, or even attempt suicide. While these individuals often are ignored by even mainstream LGBTQI campaigns, we believe that every resource must be made available to these individuals to ensure them a happy and productive life. In this spirit, we will fight to ensure them access to gender counseling, hormone replacement therapy, and even sexual reassignment surgery free of charge, should they desire these services, with the appropriate medical advice.

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