All 12 Senate Republicans who voted to advance a bill protecting same-sex marriages deserve to be censured, says Troy Miller, President & CEO of the National Religious Broadcasters.
"They took a lot of money from conservatives and religious support and then really turned around and kind of abandoned the whole topic," Miller said Thursday during an appearance on Newsmax's "Chris Salcedo Show."
The Senate last week voted to advance the measure, with 12 Republicans joining all 50 Democrats in supporting the Respect for Marriage Act after it included an amendment outlining some protections for religious beliefs.
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President Joe Biden signed the bill Tuesday after it passed the House in a 258-169-1 vote.
Iowa Republican County parties have voted to censure or condemn Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who voted yes on the bill.
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"I don't agree with the censure," Ernst told reporters Monday. "But I will say that I stand by my vote, and I hope that more people will actually read the bill and understand we have just improved upon religious liberty protections, not just in Iowa, but across the United States."
Miller said the law isn't necessary and will be used by the left to "weaponize this issue."
"The protections for same-sex marriages and certainly interracial marriages already existed. There was no threat here whatsoever from anywhere, from any court threat, any state legislature anywhere," he said.
"This law weaponizes the radical LGBTQ agenda to be able to go in and sue organizations who affirm that biblical marriage is between a man and a woman. That's going to be the big issue coming up with this is whether or not you affirm same-sex marriages.
"It's not whether you perform them, that was already protected. So those who say this law protects you from not performing same-sex marriages, they haven't read the law and they don't understand what's in it."
Same-sex marriage has been legal since the Supreme Court's 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges. But the debate over gay marriage was reignited this summer when Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in his concurring opinion overturning Roe v. Wade called on the court to reconsider the precedent of Obergefell v. Hodges.
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Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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