Joe Sempolinski
Congressman Joe Sempolinski will not be supporting the Respect for Marriage Act, citing concerns for religious freedoms.
The legislation protects same-sex and interracial marriage and was passed the U.S. Senate 61 to 36 on Tuesday. It is expected to be acted on by the House next week.
Sempolinski, who calls himself a Constitutional Conservative, said with an amendment by Senator Mike Lee failing in the Senate that would have protected the tax-exempt status of organizations, he has concerns, “And not having those stop-gaps and safeties in there makes me concerned about how this legislation would be used against people whose religious beliefs are not in accord with different definitions of marriage.”
The act does provide exclusions for religious organizations, meaning those groups, “shall not be required to provide services, accommodations, advantages, facilities, goods, or privileges for the solemnization or celebration of a marriage.”
The legislation would not force any state to allow same-sex couples to marry. But it would require states to recognize all marriages that were legal where they were performed, and protect current same-sex unions, if the U.S. Supreme Court‘s 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision were to be overturned.
If a state bans same-sex marriage, couples would have the option to marry in states where same-sex marriage is legal.
The bill would also protect interracial marriages by requiring states to recognize legal marriages regardless of “sex, race, ethnicity or national origin.”
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