GOP Rep Claims Colleagues Opposed to Same-Sex Marriage Bill Are ‘Horribly Racist’
Representative Kat Cammack blasted fellow Republicans, despite the fact that their opposition had nothing to do with interracial marriage.
Representative Kat Cammack blasted fellow Republicans, despite the fact that their opposition had nothing to do with interracial marriage.
I n a Wednesday-night exchange with a college student on Instagram, Representative Kat Cammack, a freshman Republican from Florida’s third congressional district, appeared to suggest that most of her House GOP colleagues are “horribly racist” for voting against the Respect for Marriage Act (RFMA), a bill that would codify the right to gay and interracial marriage nationwide.
Cammack’s comments came in response to a student who posted on an Instagram story a picture of the 47 Republicans who had voted for the RFMA. “Not a single true conservative here,” the student wrote, tagging Cammack and Lee Zeldin (R., N.Y.), who had both voted for the bill, in the post.
Minutes later, Cammack appeared in the student’s direct messages. “Read the bill,” she wrote. “You’d be surprised what you find.” The lengthy message, later shared on Twitter, continued:
Also, please note the Chairman of the Freedom Caucus voted for it as well. Remember, the Constitution is not a la carte. True conservatives don’t pick and choose which amendments they want to uphold. They are either all in or not. 14th amendment is clear. If you support the second amendment and reciprocity of your 2nd amendment rights, you would need to be consistent in supporting your 14th amendment rights. Also, this DOESN’T change the biblical definition of marriage – it changes the legal one for tax, insurance, estate and custodial purposes. Finally, I think it is horribly racist to say that inter-racial couples cannot marry. Which is exactly what people who voted against this bill did. Again, read the bill and remember that true conservatives want as little government in their lives as possible which is exactly what we did in supporting it. Hope that helps!
That accusation of racism was striking, given that 157 of Cammack’s House Republican colleagues voted against RFMA. But as the debate continued, the congresswoman doubled down: “I wish this were a truly states right[s] issue,” she wrote. “The states cannot under the 14th amendment apply the law differently to one group of citizens. It is a liberal, anti-federalist position to say that it’s okay to discriminate and promote one group of people over another.”
However, Republicans explicitly opposed the bill over its same-sex marriage components, not its interracial-marriage provision, and accused sponsors of using the latter as cover. Representative Chip Roy (R., Texas) noted in a statement that interracial marriage is already protected, claiming colleagues were “hiding behind superfluous language” to advance a “court-manufactured” definition of marriage for same-sex couples. In one powerful indication that the “nays” did not consider their vote to be a repudiation of interracial marriage, one Republican opponent, Byron Donalds, is in an interracial marriage.
The debate over same-sex marriage had been largely dormant since 2015, when the Supreme Court legalized it nationwide in the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges ruling. But this week’s introduction of RFMA, which passed the House of Representatives on Tuesday by a margin of 267 to 157, has catapulted the issue back into the mainstream. Many conservatives, including National Review’s editorial board, have urged Republicans to continue to defend the traditional conception of marriage.
But many Republicans no longer appear to agree. Forty-seven House Republicans voted in favor of the legislation, paving the way to a potential congressional enactment of same-sex marriage as a federal right. (“Same-Sex Marriage Bill, Considered Dead on Arrival, Gains New Life,” a New York Times headline proclaimed on Wednesday, noting, “The larger-than-expected G.O.P. vote in the House in support of legislation to codify marriage equality caught both parties off guard, suggesting there could be a narrow path to enactment.”)
NR has been in contact with the college student involved in the exchange with Cammack, but the student did not want to comment further. Cammack’s office has not yet responded to a request for comment from NR.
Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said Wednesday that he plans “to bring [the RFMA] to the floor,” adding that he was “really impressed” with Republican support for the initiative in the House. At least four Republican senators — Susan Collins, Rob Portman, Lisa Murkowski, and Thom Tillis — have said they support the legislation.