Young Republicans push for more inclusive position on same-sex marriage

DES MOINES - Young conservatives who are pushing Republicans to be more tolerant of same-sex marriage say there is a 'new silent majority” of Americans who support their view and hopefully will become more vocal heading into the 2016 presidential election cycle.

Members of Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry are making an Iowa stop this week as part of a nationwide tour. It's aimed at changing how the Republican Party defines marriage in its national platform to be more inclusive.

The group's $1 million effort to reform the 2016 GOP platform seeks to replace language declaring marriage to be a union of one man and one woman with wording that recognizes growing support for allowing same-sex couples to marry and welcomes a 'thoughtful conversation” while respecting 'all families and fairness and freedom for all Americans.”

Jerri Ann Henry, a member of the group's leadership council, said during a telephone interview Friday she increasingly encounters Republicans who are part of a growing national acceptance of same-sex marriage and oftentimes are surprised to find like-minded conservatives who share their view.

'It's almost like there's a new silent majority,” said Henry, who works in public affairs and political outreach in Washington, D.C. 'They just don't know that they're the actual majority.”

A tolerant view of same-sex marriage, she said, needs to be nurtured among liberty movement Republicans, conservative-leaning 'millennials” and others if the party hopes to win elections with a philosophy that supports the family structure but inclusively allows people to define what that structure is.

Ed Lopez, another group member who is vice chairman of the Republican liberty caucus and served on former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman's New Hampshire state steering committee, said the party risks alienating a new generation of Republicans who hold conservative positions on national security, fiscal responsibility, limited government and other issues but philosophically disagree with the GOP's hardline stance on marriage.

'I think we can recognize that ultimately we're all unified around a core message that we all agree on as Republicans,” said Lopez, who participated in a Friday teleconference. 'At the end of the day, our hope is that the GOP will win and have the kind of positive impact that we feel the party can have. We just want to make sure we're not divided on issues that we don't really need to be divided on.”

Henry and Lopez said their group is coming to Iowa early in hopes of affecting the GOP debate in a key early state in the presidential process and persuading the party's 2016 candidates not to lock themselves into a marriage position that could harm them in a general-election campaign.

'I think there's an opportunity here for the party to recalibrate and to really move forward,” Lopez said. 'It's a tipping point in a sense, and I think it's a decisive moment for the party that will frame its future in our two-party system and the American dialogue, so it's a very important year in that respect.”

'I think the bottom line is that, if the Republican Party chooses to vacate their stances on human life or on the institution of marriage, the Republicans aren't going to win for a long time because the base that does all the hard work - the door knocking, the phone calling, the living and the breathing in this party - are the ones who believe in those issues,” Vander Plaats said. 'As soon as the party vacates those issues, we will vacate the party.”

Young people want authenticity and they don't want pandering, parties that flip positions or politicians who say one thing but do something else, he said, so to head down the path Young Conservatives for Freedom to Marry is suggesting ultimately would be a losing proposition.

'It's not about hating one group,” Vander Plaats said, 'it's about loving not only a group but a culture of clearly defining what's in the best interest for a sustainable culture and society. They can go their way but we're not going with them, I'll tell you that.”