By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
The Republican Party is playing with language to appear less extreme than it actually is.
TheRepublican Party, under the guidance of former PresidentDonald Trump, hasunveiled a 2024 platform just days before theGOP convention in Milwaukee, beginning on July 15. This platform, coupled with thealarming Project 2025, threatens to dismantle decades of progress for women,LGBTQ+ people, and marginalized communities.
Keep up with the latest in LGBTQ+ news and politics. Sign up for The Advocate's email newsletter.
At the heart of this platform is a strategic shift towards state governance on contentious social issues, particularly abortion. The platform eliminates previous calls for a federal abortion ban, opting instead to phrase the position as allowing states to regulate the procedure. This shift, framed as a return to states’ rights, effectively sanctions conservative states to impose severe restrictions on reproductive freedoms and bodily autonomy. The GOP’s aim is clear: to appease its base while attempting to avoid alienating moderate voters.
The consequences for women’s rights are profound. This approach disproportionately impacts women in conservative states, where access to safe and legal abortions could become virtually non-existent. The platform’s emphasis on protecting “unborn life” through the 14th Amendment is a thinly veiled attempt to justify these restrictions under the guise of constitutional rights.
Equally concerning is the platform’s approach to LGBTQ+ rights. The GOP has removed explicit condemnations of same-sex marriage, opting instead for language that promotes “the sanctity of marriage” and “traditional family values.” In addition to the platform’s silence onmarriage equality, Republicans support policies that excludetransgender Americans from participating in sports and accessing gender-affirming healthcare, which represents a significant setback for LGBTQ+ rights.
Chief Strategist for theHuman Rights Campaign Equality Votes PAC Guy Cecil did not mince words. “Donald Trump and his MAGA followers aren’t fooling anyone. Trump was the most anti-LGBTQ+ president in modern history, and a second term would be even worse,” Cecil said in a statement to The Advocate. “Between this platform, which details how a Trump administration would systematically discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community, Trump’s own threats, and the dystopian future laid out by MAGA’s Project 2025, it’s clear all our rights and freedoms are at risk if Trump returns to the White House.”
The platform’s emphasis on religious liberty further compounds these issues. By pledging to protect religious freedoms, the GOP essentially endorses the right of individuals and businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people based on religious beliefs. This position undermines federal protections against discrimination and leaves the LGBTQ+ community vulnerable to exclusion and prejudice.
Related: If you think Project 2025 is scary, take a look at Donald Trump's Agenda 47
The platform’s stance on transgender rights is particularly alarming. It promises to “ban taxpayer funding for sex change surgeries” and to prevent schools from “promoting gender transition.” These policies not only discriminate against the trans community but also threaten transgender people’s health and well-being by denying them access to essential medical care and support. The platform’s call to “restore protections for women and girls” under Title IX is a euphemism for excluding transgender women from participating in women’s sports, further marginalizing an already vulnerable population.
By proposing the largest deportation operation in American history and extreme measures to secure the border, the GOP alienates immigrant communities, including LGBTQ+ immigrants who often seek refuge in the U.S. to escape persecution.
The release of this platform coincides with the controversial Project 2025, a dystopian blueprint for a second Trump term crafted by his allies. Despite Trump’s attempts to distance himself from it, Project 2025 outlines a vision for America that includes sweeping rollbacks of rights and protections for women, LGBTQ+ people, and minorities. The alignment between this platform and Project 2025 is evident, suggesting a coordinated effort to reshape American society in a regressive mold.
The contrast between the 2024 and2016 platforms that ushered Trump into the presidency is stark. The 2016 platform, while conservative, made some efforts to temper its language on social issues, perhaps to broaden its appeal. For instance, it contained explicit language supporting traditional marriage but stopped short of the more draconian measures proposed in the current platform. The 2016 platform included calls to uphold religious freedoms, but it did not go as far as the 2024 platform in endorsing policies that would enable widespread discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals under the guise of religious liberty.
In terms of women’s rights, the 2016 platform was firm in its anti-abortion stance, but the 2024 platform’s shift to state governance could lead to even more restrictive laws in conservative states. This strategic pivot reflects an increased willingness to decentralize contentious social issues, thereby intensifying the cultural and legal battles at the state level.
