Representative Chip Roy (R., Texas) sent a letter to his Republican colleagues in the Senate today urging them to vote “no” on the “Respect for Marriage Act,” which would codify the right to same-sex marriage nationwide. The full letter reads:
Dear Senate Republican Colleagues,
Under the guise of compromise, and the cultural winds of today, you are slated to soon vote on the so-called “Respect for Marriage Act.” Supporting this bill would be a mistake, as passing this bill would codify, in federal law, a false belief on marriage and villainize millions of Americans for their religious beliefs. This, all because Democrats felt political pressure mounting, and Justice Clarence Thomas lives rent free in their heads.
The Baldwin-Collins-Tillis Amendment will threaten the charity status of faith-based adoption and foster-care agencies — while painting a target on them for future frivolous litigation — and fan the flames of attacks on religious liberty. As drafted, this amendment does not provide sufficient protections for faith-based non-profits, religious schools, religious business owners, and civil servants or close the polygamy loophole.
In July, the House Freedom Caucus took an official position urging you, our Senate colleagues, to oppose this unnecessary and harmful legislation.1 Not only should this bill be opposed on its merits, but Speaker Pelosi rushed this legislation through the House without hearings, markups, and the proper time to review before Members were asked to vote on the floor. Indeed, this bill passed the Democrat led House of Representatives with 157 “Nay” votes and should not become law.
The law cannot be neutral on marriage. It can either affirm truth or portray distortions. The foundational truth will always remain, and no act of Congress can change that. Those who see and know the truth have a moral duty to stand firm in its defense and to defend the crucial institution of marriage.
Doing so against the grain of cultural and political forces to cower and compromise takes courage; the question is how many Republicans will display it this week.
The legislation passed the House of Representatives by a margin of 267 to 157 in July, with 47 House Republicans and every House Democrat voting to support it. But social conservatives have raised concerns about the bill — not just because of its transformation of the traditional definition of marriage, but because of its inadequate “protections for faith-based non-profits, religious schools, religious business owners, and civil servants,” as Roy noted in his letter. As John McCormack wrote today, the language of the bill’s religious-liberty protections “only applies to the ‘solemnization or celebration of a marriage’ and ‘nonprofit religious organizations’ — not to the likes of Jack Phillips, the Christian baker in Colorado who was sued for conscientiously objecting to decorating a cake for a same-sex wedding.” While “the Senate bill does not gut the Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” and “Phillips has been able to defend himself in court under the First Amendment,” it is also the case that, “as advocates of religious liberty have argued, the process is the punishment,” McCormack wrote.
Still, a number of Senate Republicans are expected to back the legislation. As PBS reported, Senate Democrats are “betting that at least 10 Republicans will vote with all 50 Democrats to move forward with the legislation to ensure that same-sex and interracial marriages are legally recognized nationwide.” At least three Republicans in the upper chamber — Susan Collins, Thom Tillis, and Rob Portman — have explicitly stated they plan to vote for the bill.