One day after the House of Representatives passed the Respect of Marriage Act with bipartisan support, some U.S. Senate Democrats and Republicans are saying they see an opening to pass their chamber’s version of the bill providing federal protections of same-sex marriage rights nationwide
The bill is a direct response to the Supreme Court’s dismantling of Roe vs. Wade — a reversal of nearly 50 year’s of abortion rights. The conservative court determined that the original ruling was an overreach of federal power, kicking abortion back to individual states. It’s expected that abortion will soon be all but outlawed in half the states.
Many observers worried the same process could be used to target other rights, and those fears were confirmed when Justice Clarence Thomas signaled in his concurring opinion that the Court should revisit cases which established federal protections for contraception, same-sex relationships, and same-sex marriage.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Wednesday he was “really impressed by how much bipartisan support it got in the House.” 47 Republican representatives voted yes along with all Democratic reps; 157 Republicans voted no.
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In order for the bill to pass the 50-50 Senate, Schumer would need at least 10 Republicans to vote for it.
Related: The House just made it crystal clear what it thinks of Clarence Thomas’ plan to dismantle gay rights
John Thune, the senate’s No. 2 Republican, said he thinks the bill could receive enough GOP support.
“I wouldn’t be surprised. We haven’t assessed [the vote count] at all, yet,” he told reporters. “But as a general matter, I think that is something people in the country have come to accept.”
Other Republican senators have signaled they’d support the legislation. Senator Susan Collins co-sponsored the Senate version of the House bill, and Senator Thom Tillis said on CNN that he’d “probably” vote yes.
Republican Senator Rob Portman also co-sponsored the bill and said it sends “an important message.”
Then of course, there are the obvious opponents like Republican Senator Ted Cruz, who said over the weekend that the Supreme Court was “clearly wrong” to establish federal gay marriage rights in the first place. Fellow GOP Senator Lindsey Graham has already said he would vote no, while Marco Rubio has called it a “stupid waste of time.”
Meanwhile, Republican Senator Mitt Romney is a likely no vote after he called the House bill “unnecessary.”
“I haven’t given consideration to that legislation in part because the law isn’t changing and there’s no indication that it will,” he said. He added that Justice Thomas had “opened a lot of doors that no other justices walk through.”
How nice for Mitt that he feels so secure in the future, and that his rights aren’t being openly threatened at the highest levels of power. We’ve lived through plenty of things in the last six years we never thought were possible, so a little assurance doesn’t seem like a bad thing at all.
On Thursday, the House is scheduled to vote on the Protect the Right to Contraception bill in an attempt to cut off the Supreme Court from revisiting contraceptive rights, as Justice Thomas said it should.
Sqwoah
Marco Rubio’s face is a stupid waste of time
Harry Bush
And Marco had quite the fun with guys in college.
AntiRepubliQueer
There have been stories about Rubio making me think he might be a bi-sexual closet case. There’s no bigger homophobe than a closeted gay or bisexual. They need to keep that closet door shut tight and publicly attacking or passing legislation against the LGBTQIA+ Community helps them do that. This is especially important for anyone in politics running in the bigoted Republican GQP gangster organization. Always remember that today’s Trumpist Republican Party is the largest White Supremacist organization in the world. Rubio and nearly all Republicans in the House and Senate are members of a huge and violent White Supremacist organization led by the biggest White Supremacist of them all, Sleaze Ball 45.
missvamp
so many of these people need to just resign, if they don’t want to protect our rights.
Ken_K
I wonder how Rafael Edward Cruz would feel if the Supreme Court allowed Texas to invalidate his marriage to Heidi Suzanne Nelson because he’s Hispanic and she’s White.
Kangol2
He probably wouldn’t bat an eye since Hispanic is not race but an ethnic category and he probably considers himself a White man.
CNY1983
6 degrees of separation:
i know someone who knows his…..
my ex does her….
he goes to…..
If they really want this FIGHT, they better be prepared to get called out on anything they do they don’t want people to know about. no more hiding in plain sight, if you can’t take the heat GET OFF GRINDR.
Cam
Hmmm, where’s the same old right wing troll account with all of it’s screenames talking about how Republicans aren’t bigots?
::::crickets::::
GayEGO
What we need is a cure for these Bigots who are against us. They seem to have defective brains.
xanadude
The “waste of time” is trying to change something that is in place. If you don’t want to waste time, and the marriage equality doesn’t affect YOU anyway, leave it alone and move on to more pressing matters!