Texas GOP Chair Opposes Party’s Endorsement Of Gay Reparative Therapy

Steve Munisteri, Republican Party of Texas Chairman, talks to the media following a hearing in Federal Court, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012, in San Antonio. A federal judge has told Republican leaders in Texas to plan as ... Steve Munisteri, Republican Party of Texas Chairman, talks to the media following a hearing in Federal Court, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012, in San Antonio. A federal judge has told Republican leaders in Texas to plan as though the state's primary will be May 29 because the long-running dispute over redistricting likely won't allow for it to be held any earlier. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) MORE LESS
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The chairman of the Texas Republican Party, Steve Munisteri, on Thursday voiced opposition to his party’s decision to include an endorsement of gay reparative therapy in the platform.

“And I just make the point for anybody that thinks that may be the possibility: Do they think they can take a straight person to go to see a psychiatrist and turn them gay?” he asked on Texas Public Radio.

Munisteri added that many Republicans in the state don’t believe the party should support psychological treatments that try to turn gay people straight.

“My emails and phone calls to the office from Republicans are running overwhelmingly opposed to that plank in the platform,” he said.

He explained that once the endorsement was proposed, the party committee had to vote for it.

“Because the way the platform works, once somebody calls the question on the platform it’s a parliamentary maneuver,” Munisteri said. “The delegates are really forced to pass the platform as is, because if you don’t pass it, there is no platform.”

The Texas GOP last week voted to recognize “the legitimacy and efficacy of counseling, which offers reparative therapy and treatment for those patients seeking healing and wholeness from their homosexual lifestyle” in its platform.

[H/t Huffington Post]

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