Last week, the House passed what the Respect for Marriage Act, which is meant to protect same-sex marriage from conservative aggression, including the far right-leaning Supreme Court. Should it pass the Senate, it will be a historic bill, ensuring that same-sex marriages, passed into federal law in 2015, can not be terminated. But there’s been considerable pushback from Republican lawmakers, one of whom wouldn’t let the fact that he has a gay stop him from voting against his interests.
As per NBC News, Pennsylvania representative Glenn Thompson spent Friday at his son’s wedding. Thompson’s press secretary said he and his wife were “thrilled to attend and celebrate their son’s marriage,” and that they were “very happy” for the new spouses.
But there’s one problem: A mere three days earlier, Thompson was one of the 157 Republicans who voted against the bill that would make sure his own son’s marriage isn’t suddenly rendered null and void.
Thompson’s spokesperson called the bill “nothing more than an election-year messaging stunt for Democrats in Congress who have failed to address historic inflation and out of control prices at gas pumps and grocery stores.” It’s a similar statement to the one made by Florida senator (and sometime coward) Marco Rubio, who called the bill a “waste of time,” prompting a measured and moving response from transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg.
So if you’re looking for a perfect encapsulation of today’s Republican party, it’s the lawmaker who wouldn’t even vote to protect his own son’s marriage from potential doom.
(Via NBC News)