News

Same-Sex Marriage Bill Heads For Senate Passage Over Opposition From Cornyn And Cruz

Republican U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz tried Wednesday to block a Senate vote to explicitly enshrine federal recognition of same-sex marriages, but 12 GOP lawmakers joined Democrats to clear the way for the bill’s passage.

The Respect for Marriage Act would repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which barred the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriage until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that law unconstitutional in 2013. The high court went further in 2015 and ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that states can’t ban same-sex marriages, declaring that gay, lesbian and bisexual Americans have a constitutional right to marry.

The core provisions of the Respect for Marriage Act would be relevant only if the Supreme Court reverses that decision in the way it revoked a constitutional right to abortion this summer.

The bill would not force states that currently have unenforceable bans on same-sex marriage, like Texas, to offer marriage certificates to gay, lesbian and bisexual couples if Obergefell is overturned. But it would mandate that the state recognize a same-sex marriage that occurred in a state where it is legal. The vote on Wednesday in the Senate clears the way for it to pass the chamber easily. It will then return to the House, where members will consider the amendments made in the Senate. The House passed the original version of the bill in July.

Cruz blasted Republican Senators who voted with Democrats to give the measure the 60 votes it needed to overcome a potential filibuster in the upper chamber.

Cornyn told reporters on Tuesday that he would not support the bill because gay marriage “is already a Constitutional right.”

Cruz also said the vote was harming Republican chances in a high-stakes Senate runoff election in Georgia between Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker. Cruz said on an episode of his podcast on Wednesday that the bill was “kicking evangelical voters in Georgia in the teeth.”

Codifying same-sex marriage at the federal level has been a priority for Democrats after the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, amid fears that the court might reconsider constitutional protections for gay marriage. Included in the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of the constitutional protection for abortion was a concurring opinion from conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, who pushed the court to revisit cases related to same-sex marriage. That fueled already heightened anxieties from LGBTQ groups that the end of Roe v. Wade could be the tip of the heavily conservative court’s iceberg.

Democrats floated the idea of passing the marriage bill before the midterm elections, but punted until after the elections. Republicans had voiced concerns about the need to protect religious liberties in the bill, but a group of bipartisan Senators announced this week they reached an agreement on a revised version of the legislation, which they think will garner enough Republican votes.

The bill has attracted criticism from both religious leaders and the LGBTQ community. A number of religious leaders argue the bill attacks religious liberty, and some in the LGBTQ community argue it doesn’t go far enough in protecting same-sex marriage.

Correction, Nov. 16, 2022: A previous headline of this story misrepresented a U.S. Senate vote on the Respect for Marriage Act. The bill was headed for Senate passage at the time of initial publication. It had not yet passed the full Senate.

This story originally appeared on the Texas Tribune. To read this article in its original format, click here.

Stephen Neukam, The Texas Tribune

Recent Posts

Wall Street South? Texas Launches Bold Bid with New Stock Exchange

A bold new financial chapter is unfolding…

9 hours ago

Nearly 900 Texans Rescued After Catastrophic Flooding in Kerr County, Death Toll Rises

At least 32 people are dead and many more remain missing — including children from…

1 day ago

Texas Bets on Bitcoin: A Strategic Play for Financial Innovation

In a move that has drawn national…

1 day ago

Elon Musk’s $50K House vs. His Nearly $70K Cybertruck

Elon Musk, a figure with billion-dollar ventures…

1 day ago

Delta-8 vs. Delta-9: Why Texas’ Marijuana Dispensaries Say They Can’t Compete

Texas' medical marijuana industry entered 2025’s legislative…

2 days ago

Paxton drops appeal: Texas to pay $6.6 million to whistleblowers

Texas will pay $6.6 million to four former top deputies to Attorney General Ken Paxton…

2 days ago

This website uses cookies.