This story is part of the IDS’ national convention coverage. Follow reporter Andrew Miller on X and IDS social media for updates.
MILWAUKEE — Amid an exceptionally united party, the Republican Party is split over gay marriage, an issue Donald Trump has taken a softer position on than past nominees.
The Republican Party’s 2024 platform is virtually silent on gay marriage. The document only provides one unclear reference: “Republicans will promote a Culture that values the Sanctity of Marriage.”
The Supreme Court in 2015 ruled that same-sex couples had the same right to marry as opposite-sex couples, effectively legalizing gay marriage nationwide.
Republicans in the past have vehemently opposed same-sex marriage, and yet former President Donald Trump has bucked that orthodoxy since the start of his political career in 2015.
After he was elected in 2016, Trump said the issue was “settled.” Trump’s 2020 campaign even sold "Trump Pride'' merchandise.
But some supporters at the RNC said they weren’t supportive of that language and think the party should go further against gay marriage.
Sue O’Donnell, an alternate delegate for Kansas’ delegation to the convention, said she disagrees with the party’s omission of gay marriage in its platform. She said she doesn’t believe people are born gay and said the party has veered away from some religious values she wishes it would keep.
Still, she understands the political reasoning.
“I understand it is 2024,” O’Donnell said.
Public opinion polling shows a dramatic rise in support for gay marriage after the Supreme Court’s decision. In 2024, Gallup found that 69% of Americans supported gay marriage with equal rights to traditional marriage. In 2014, that number was 55%.
Gallup also found Republicans torn on the issue — hovering around 50% support for gay marriage since 2020.
Others outside the RNC say they support gay marriage outright, including Bruce Rieke, a guest of the Kansas delegation.
“I had a cousin who was gay, and he was truly gay the day he was born,” he said. “And so I get that.”
Both Rieke and O’Donnell brought up rights for transgender people in conjunction with the debate on gay marriage. The party’s platform is by no means silent on that issue.
The platform vows to “keep men out of women’s sports” and to bar taxpayer funds to pay for gender-affirming care.
Many LGBTQ+ rights organizations have condemned the platform as dangerous for transgender people.
But the issue over gay marriage — while dormant for now — could come back in the future.
Judges in a now-heavily conservative Supreme Court have since indicated a willingness to reexamine the decision that led to the legalization of gay marriage.
Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts voted against the decision in 2015 — and are all still on the court today. Both Alito and Thomas have criticized that ruling in recent years.
Three additional conservative-leaning Trump-appointed judges, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, haven’t ruled or opined on gay marriage yet.
Barrett dodged questions over whether she would specifically vote to overturn gay marriage during her confirmation, though she said that she would not discriminate on “sexual preference.”
In 2022, Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act, which is poised to protect gay marriage even if the court overturns its decision.
That legislation, while not outright codifying the case, requires states to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. It does not require states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
— Andrew Miller covers politics and elections for the Indiana Daily Student. Contact him at ami3@iu.edu, or direct message via X.
