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Back in June, Republican Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel faced a wave of backlash after a tweet celebrating Pride Month.
"Happy Pride month," she tweeted, "GOP is proud to have doubled our LGBTQ support over the last 4 years, and we will continue to grow our big tent..."
The reaction from the LGBTQ and the evangelicals was quick and to the point. Neither appreciated her comments.
However, she apparently was tone-deaf to all voices, because now she has announced that a new alliance has been forged between the LGBTQ and the Republican Party.
Be informed, not misled.
What was she thinking?
Fox News said,
"McDaniel's tweet provoked backlash from both sides with liberals suggesting she was inauthentic and conservatives warning about the consequences of her advocacy. The controversy comes amid a raging debate about how gender and sexuality have impacted female athletics, marriage and other issues."
The GOP's 2016 platform, which was readopted in 2020, condemns more liberal Supreme Court decisions as an activist judiciary attacking marriage.
The GOP Platform reads, "Traditional marriage and family, based on marriage between one man and one woman, is the foundation for a free society and has for millennia been entrusted with rearing children and instilling cultural values."
It also endorses the First Amendment Defense Act, which would effectively protect faith-based adoption agencies from mandates to serve same-sex couples.
I'll come back to Ronna in a moment.
Others were very clear about what they were thinking.
In response to McDaniel, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins tweeted: "Sounds good in a tweet, but the reality is religious freedom is being endangered by those demanding forced acceptance of the LGBTQ agenda from the elementary classroom to the corporate board room and everything in between. There can be no compromise on our First Freedom."
Arizona State Senator Wendy Rogers tweeted, "Stop. We don't want men to play on girls' sports teams and castration of children. Ronna needs to adjust this horrible wrong-headed messaging or resign."
https://player.fm/series/breakpoint-2682358/breakpoint-the-rncs-pride-coalition
Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg's "husband", Chasten, took aim at Ronna's tweet: "Those with 'deeply held religious beliefs are often the parents who force their LGBTQ children out of the home and onto the street," he said.
Continuing, he said, "I've met with those kids. 40% of homeless youth in this country are LGBTQ. Re-visit your party's platform before you open your mouth about pride."
Buttigieg's "husband" has a point, perhaps we all should visit the Republican Party platform. I did and it's inspiring, but why does the Party have leadership that apparently does not share all the values and principles put forth in the platform?
Beginning by enumerating the American values held by the Party, it then focuses on "Marriage, Family and Society":
"Foremost among these institutions is the American family. It is the foundation of civil society, and the cornerstone of the family is natural marriage, the union of man and one woman...Strong families depending upon God and one another, advance the cause of liberty by lessening the need of government in their daily lives. Conversely, as we have learned over the last five decades, the loss of faith and family life leads to greater dependence upon government. That is why Republicans formulate public policy, from taxation to education, from healthcare to welfare, with attention to the needs and strengths of the family."
This is why I nearly always vote Republican---with a few exceptions when there is a viable alternative against a RINO.
Why then is chairwoman Ronna McDaniel acting more like her uncle, Mitt Romney, then conservative champion Ronald Reagan?
Recently the Republican National Committee (RNC) announced the "Pride Coalition". The coalition is a partnership with the Log Cabin Republicans---an organization that describes itself as "LGBT" conservatives and straight allies who support fairness, freedom, and equality for all."
John Stonestreet and Chuck Colson Ministries, "Breakpoint" shared his thoughts on the matter:
Although many find the move disheartening, it will only shock those who haven't been paying attention.
The relationship between the Republican Party and evangelicals has been a "marriage of convenience" that has worked. Although for many in the Republican Party, the evangelicals are only one voting block--albeit a very big block. For many evangelicals, the Grand Old Party (GOP) is simply a better fit than the alternative, given their stance on social issues like abortion, gender, and religious freedom.
The challenge for Christians is always to keep straight what are the means and what are the ends. A decision to partner with an LGBTQ group only makes sense if the "end" is to regain political power. The same decision makes no sense if power is understood as the "means" and something else is the end---like life, liberty, and limited government.
This new "relationship"--- because of how it's structured--- isn't that some LGBTQ people support a political party of limited government. Welcoming voters to a political party is different than forming an alliance with them for the purpose, in their mind, to advance their LGBTQ agenda within that party, and within its platform.
A core element of the GOP platform has long been "family values." The belief that marriage is between one man and one woman who get married and stay married is not a mere social construct but is actually essential for a healthy society and the well being of the next generation.
So the role of the government is to "protect" the family, not "redefine" the family.
Any moral consensus around the nuclear family is only possible if it rests on grounds other than government. That requires a grounding or foundation for truth outside of government.
Today, however, is what theologian Os Guinness calls a "cut flower society." We still have the trappings of so-called "family values" seen in Hallmark movies, Veteran's Day parades, and Little Leagues, but there is no real moral foundation for the family.
Ronna and the Party are wrong---dead wrong, to think that it's possible to be fiscally or politically conservative for long without being, on some level, "culturally" conservative first.
Whenever a family fails, it compels the state to step in. The Founders, despite all their flaws, understood that.
John Adams said, "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our constitution as a whale goes through a net."
The lesson here is that we, as biblical Christians, must never put our trust in politicians or political parties as if they are the "ends" and our support the means. In a Christian worldview, political ends simply aren't ultimate ends.
Christians must maintain a clear-headed vision of the importance of social issues in the public arena---that means being informed, determining what is biblical and theologically true, then letting the chips fall where they may.
Tony Perkins summed it up with this: "The Republicans may not always win with the evangelical vote, but they can never win without it."
Clearly, there will be more to come on this issue. We'll keep you updated.
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Prayerful.