By L.A. Williams
Christian Action League
December 11, 2022
“Our laws and our government’s regulations should recognize marriage as the union of one man and one woman and actively promote married family life as the basis of a stable and prosperous society.” — These words appear in the National Republican Party Platform. Similarly, the state GOP Platform declares, “Traditional marriage and family, based on marriage between one man and one woman, is the foundation for a civil society.”
But Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) not only voted for the Respect for Marriage Act, which will enshrine same-sex marriage into federal law, but led efforts to shepherd it through the upper chamber, actions that have N.C. House Rep. Mark Brody (R-Union) calling for a showdown.
“Basically, Senator Tillis’ action puts our state Republican Party in a predicament. His vocal support of the Respect for Marriage Act along with his vote to move it forward in the Senate, in direct opposition to both the national and state Republican Party platforms, force the issue to the forefront,” Brody wrote in a recent op-ed on The Daily Haymaker website.
The party, he says, must at its next convention either vote to affirm the platform’s support for traditional marriage and sanction Tillis or vote to change the platform.
The Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League agrees, saying the issue is especially important to evangelicals who make up a large portion of the Party’s energy.
“The question is whether the Party Platform actually means what it says, and can we trust candidates not to be mavericks – self-appointed appeasers of Leftists politics,” Creech says. “This is a bridge too far for many of us. If you ask me, a censure vote against Tillis’ actions would be a referendum in itself on the direction of the Party.”
Brody concedes that there are many in the GOP who support Tillis on the issue and anticipates an attempt to silence debate so that the party will not appear divided. But he says the issue of same-sex marriage is “so fundamental and contrary to the deeply-held beliefs of so many of the Republican Party faithful that it warrants a response.”
He says Tillis apparently views God’s laws and Party Platforms as “mere suggestions that can get flagrantly violated without consequence.”
In calling for the convention to take up the issue, Brody says he will not “stand idly by while our misguided Senator leads the charge to change our Republican platform without an open debate and vote.”
Creech says faithful Christians love peace, but not peace at any price.
“Good Christian people seek unity, but righteousness can’t be a partner with wickedness, nor light with darkness,” he says. “The Party cannot support both traditional marriage and same-sex marriage without ultimately seriously diminishing the positive effects of traditional marriage.”