Why is it always on the Democrats to compromise?
On Thursday, the bipartisan group of senators behind the Respect for Marriage Act, which would have enshrined federal protections for same-sex marriage, announced a delay on putting the measure to a vote, which had been expected to take place this week.
The bill’s lead sponsor, Senator Tammy Baldwin, Democrat of Wisconsin, said postponing the vote until after the November elections would increase the likelihood of getting the 10 Republicans on board necessary to push it through today’s filibuster protected Senate, where 60 votes would be needed for it to advance.
Baldwin, and Democrats generally, are conceding that it will be hard to get Republicans to commit to a measure that’s odious to their base prior to the midterm elections. That in the interest of actually passing the bill, as opposed to putting Republicans on the record with an unpopular, anti-same-sex-marriage vote.
Please!
This just makes things easier on Republicans. A vote would force them to dissatisfy either swing voters, with whom same-sex marriage is highly popular, or their extremist base, with whom it is not.
Just like with Lindsey Graham’s unpopular bill on abortion they are backing away from this bill.
They are doing this at the expense of the many Americans in same-sex relationships for whom this just makes life harder and more precarious.
I strongly support passage of this Act which would secure marriage equality in the United States. The right to marriage confers vital legal protections, dignity, and full participation in our society. No person should face
discrimination because of who they are or whom they love, and every married couple in the United States deserves the security of knowing that their marriage will be defended and respected.
Also, this would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, an unconstitutional and discriminatory law, and would enshrine the right to Federal recognition of marriage for same-sex and interracial couples. This legislation would strengthen civil rights, and ensure that the promise of equality is not denied to families across the country.
Support for legal same-sex marriage continues to trend upward, now at 70%. Also, a poll from Pew Research Center found that 61% of Republicans under the age of 30 support marriage equality. 55 percent of all Republicans support this according to Gallup.
This is exactly the moment to hold Republicans’ feet to the fire. As Senator Elizabeth Warren put it: “Every single member of Congress should be willing to go on the record. And if there are Republicans who don’t want to vote on that before the election, I assume it is because they are on the wrong side of history.”
Those who do support gay marriage need to act. Particularly given the ominous words of Clarence Thomas’s concurring opinion on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which many interpreted as a threat to revisit the landmark 2015 decision establishing the right to same-sex marriage.
If that right is no longer settled law, as had previously been assumed, it’s certainly a settled moral principle. Over the past seven short years and following the course of many long ones, same-sex marriage has reached the status of a basic and bedrock civil right. Currently 71 percent of Americans support same-sex marriage. This not only includes the vast majority of Democrats, but as of 2021, 55 percent of Republicans according to Gallup.
When it comes to polarizing culture war issues, gay marriage may be the most unifying policy there is. Even under the capacious L.G.B.T.Q. umbrella, where disparate issues around sexual orientation, gay rights and gender identity split Americans across the political spectrum, you can’t get much closer to consensus than same-sex marriage. It may be the one clear-cut policy here that unites people rather than divides them.
I have said it before, Democrats once again, don’t want to play hardball — in the same way Republicans have done repeatedly and without remorse. This is putting politics ahead of principle.
And for those who believe that civil unions are available, segregation is not equality. Same sex marriage can help reduce prejudice and discrimination, and may enhance the safety, self-esteem, health and wellbeing of all
LGBTQ people.
Finally, there is a Freedom of Religion aspect here. Respecting the right of those bodies that wish to solemnize same-sex marriages, and the right of those couples who wish a religious same-sex marriage to be solemnized by those bodies.
It also means respecting the right of religious bodies that disagree with same-sex marriage, to decline to conduct them.
Here at the NABWMT, we believe in all rights for people who are discriminated against. Please ensure you, your friends and neighbors vote in this vital election this November.