GOProud calls GOP platform 'meaningless' and civil union fight 'distraction'

The Republican Party's platform committee has struck down a proposal to include language expressing support for same sex civil unions as an alternative for LGBT Republicans who want to formalize their unions without treading on the politically and religiously sensitive ground of "marriage." When reached by Raw Story for comment, GOProud activist Jimmy Salvia was angry and disappointed over the civil union fight, but probably not for the reason that one would suspect.

"The platform is a meaningless document, granting no rights or responsibilities," LaSalvia wrote via email. "Those who have engaged in this public platform fight have provided distraction from important issues and damaged Mitt Romney's campaign."

Thirty-one-year-old Rhode Island delegate Barbara Fenton, who believes that the party’s lock-step rejection of LGBT rights of any kind is increasingly out of synch with the times, brought the civil union proposal to the platform committee.

"For my own generation, a lot of times homosexuality isn't the biggest deal in the world anymore, and that's okay," Fenton said in her address to the committee, according to CNN.

A few people in the room seconded the proposal, but Indiana's Jim Bopp, an adviser to presumptive Republican nominee Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) and Louisiana's Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, strenuously objected.

Bopp called civil unions a "counterfeit marriage" in his argument against the proposal.

Perkins argued that the Republican Party should only endorse "traditional marriage" and that to do anything else would "move the party away immensely for the position this party has held."

The committee defeated the proposal in a voice vote.