The Nevada Republican Party has voted to make some big changes to the party platform, removing language pertaining to both gay marriage and abortion.
Some members said the amendments were decided upon at the party's national meeting last weekend based on recent Supreme Court and lower level court rulings in favor of same-sex nuptials, according to the Christian Post.
The platform change was adopted when less than half of the 520 delegates in attendance at the convention showed up to vote by a show of hands, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
"I think it was about inclusion, not exclusion," said state party Chairman Michael McDonald. "This is where the party is going."
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The decision to remove the issues comes at a time of increased social and political acceptance of gay marriage.
Dave Hockaday, who sat on the committee that decided on the new platform, said it's about finding areas where the GOP can make headway.
"The issue was how can we back out of people’s personal lives," Hockaday told the Review-Journal. "We need to focus on issues where we can have an impact."
The 2012 Nevada Republican Party Platform defined marriage "as only between a man and a woman as defined in the Nevada Constitution."
The language present on the abortion front was specific and pointed as well, noting that the party supports a "ban on partial-birth abortion."
The document also read, "We affirm the sanctity of life and the inherent dignity of each human being from conception to death. The unborn child has a fundamental right to life and should be welcomed into life and protected under law."
While some Republicans warned that removing gay marriage and abortion would alienate social conservatives, the arguments did not sway the decision away from removing these issues from the platform.
The decision follows the local Clark County Republican Party's move to cut these issues in early April.
(H/T: Christian Post)
