The Lowdown on Republicans

So here is my deal with republicans: some of their policies are well thought out and can be effective, but as a whole, the republican party is plummeting.
Starting with their weaknesses, being conservative means being heartless about certain issues--in California, this means no gay marriage. If you look at the progression of marriage, interracial weddings were banned for many years until sensible reform came. This is the next step towards equality, but republicans are so traditional that they refuse to think of homosexuality as anything but "unnatural" and even "sinful". That leads to my next point: many republicans (not all, mind you) let their religion come into play with politics. In this country, we have a secular government--meaning that there is a separation of church and state. Even at the platform, republicans refuse to acknowledge homosexuals as compatible human beings:

"We affirm traditional military culture, and we affirm that homosexuality is incompatible with military service."

Source: 2004 Republican Party Platform, p. 18 Sep 7, 2004

Along with this goes the very complex and controversial subject of abortion (which I personally am in favor of), republicans seem to let their good Christianity be a deciding factor over what a woman does with her body. I stand under the fact that if men could get pregnant, abortion would not only be legal, but probably federally funded as well. I know that these aren't words spoken aloud, but there is something about the tradition of the republican party that makes me feel inferior as a woman who has no right over whether or not I would like to harvest a child in my uterus. These words were spoken on the platform regarding abortion:

"...we endorse legislation that the 14th Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children."

So basically, it is better for a child to be born in poverty with plenty of suffering rather than simply abort it when it still has not developed a central nervous system and therefore can not feel any pain. (I mean, is the fetus even human at this point? When does a clump of cells become a life that can actually be protected by the constitution?)