16 Comments On Same Sex Marriages From Republicans That I Can't Believe I Am Reading In 2022

BUZZFEED Wed, August 10, 2022

The year is 2022. We pride ourselves on being woke human beings and believe that we know better than the previous generation's bigotry. Wait a minute, though! Read these comments made by Republicans on marriage equality. Maybe we aren't living in 2022 after all...

1.When Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said that the Supreme Court has the duty to "correct the error" of legalizing same-sex marriages.

While reacting to the Roe v. Wade decision, Clarence Thomas said that the Supreme Court should reconsider opinions protecting same-sex relationships, marriage equality, and access to contraceptives. He also said that they "have the duty to 'correct the error' established in the precedents."

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2.When Sen. Marco Rubio said he wouldn't vote to codify same-sex marriage into law because it is a "non-issue" and a "stupid waste of time."

On July 20, 2022, Marco Rubio confirmed that he wouldn't vote to codify same-sex marriage. "I don't know why we're doing that bill; there's no threat to its status in America," he told the Insider. "But I know plenty of gay people in Florida that are pissed off about gas prices." He also went on to say that it is a "stupid waste of our time on a non-issue."

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3.When Ben Shapiro tweeted that the "founders would have died laughing" about same-sex marriages.

4.When Sen. John Cornyn of Texas called the Supreme Court’s marriage equality ruling an “edict.”

The senator from Texas made this comment when questioning nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson during her confirmation hearing on March 22, 2022. He said that it is an example of policy-making by the court and that the court added a "new right that is not in the Constitution."

"When the Supreme Court decides that something that is not even in the Constitution is a fundamental right and no state can pass any law that conflicts with the Supreme Court’s edict, particularly in an area where people have sincerely held religious beliefs, doesn’t that necessarily create a conflict between what people may believe as a matter of their religious doctrine or faith and what the federal government says is the law of the land?" Cornyn asked.

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5.When Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said that "nobody is taking away gay marriage rights" and that the Marriage Equality Bill is a "shiny object to rile up voters."

6.When Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana called the Marriage Equality Bill a "silly messaging bill."

While clarifying his stance on the Marriage Equality Bill, he said to CNN, "It's a pure messaging bill. I mean, it's obviously settled law right now. This is a pure messaging bill by a party which has failed on substantive issues, be it inflation, crime, or the border, and now is looking for cultural issues in order to somehow do better in November. It's such a silly messaging bill, I'm just not going to address that."

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7.When Sen. Steve Daines said that "marriage should be between a man and a woman."

"I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I’m opposed to this bill and believe it’s another attempt by Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats to distract the American people from the inflation crisis, energy crisis, and the southern border crisis they’ve created," Steve Daines, US senator for Montana, explained in a statement released on July 25, 2022.

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8.When cartoonist Pat Cross said that "same-sex marriage just won't fly."

9.When Roger Severino said that the Marriage Equality Bill is just radical activists “manufacturing a phantom crisis.”

In a statement issued to HuffPost, Roger Severino, the Heritage Foundation’s vice president for domestic policy, said radical activists are “manufacturing a phantom crisis” because the Supreme Court has given no indication it plans to overturn a 2015 decision recognizing the right to same-sex marriage.

“Instead of criticizing those who point out how the hastily written legislation actually works, perhaps they should ask why the liberals in Congress drafted those provisions in the first place,” he said.

Jacquelyn Martin / AP

10.When Fox News anchor Tomi Lahren asked the LGBT community to stop "attacking traditional men and marriage at every turn."

11.When South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said that she never supported same-sex marriages because of her faith.

“I’ve never supported gay marriage as far as the legality of it in our state. For me, a lot of my faith has to do with that and the legal documentation of that. But I do know that a lot of people are still continuing to have those discussions,” she said to the Guardian.

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12.When Sen. Ted Cruz said that the Supreme Court was "overreaching" when it legalized same-sex marriages nationwide.

On July 17, 2022, Sen. Ted Cruz from Texas, a longtime opponent of same-sex marriage, commented on his podcast Verdict with Ted Cruz that the Supreme Court was "overreaching" and "clearly wrong" in the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges ruling in 2015. He also said that the landmark judgement, along with Roe v. Wade "ignored two centuries of our nation’s history."

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13.When Sen. Mitt Romney's spokesperson said that he "believed that strong religious liberty protections are essential to any legislation" on LGBTQ+ equality.

On February 16, 2021, Sen. Mitt Romney said that he would oppose the Equality Act, the legislation to expand the prohibition on anti-LGBTQ discrimination under federal law. "Sen. Romney believes that strong religious liberty protections are essential to any legislation on this issue, and since those provisions are absent from this particular bill, he is not able to support it," Arielle Mueller, his spokesperson clarified to Washington Blade.

Back in 2012, he clarified his stand on same-sex marriage. "I have the same view on marriage that I had when I was governor. I believe marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman," Romney said. "I have the same view I've had since, well, running for office."

"Given the fact that the law is settled on this…I don’t think we need to lose sleep over it unless there was a development that suggested the law was going to be changed," Romney told reporters in Washington in July 2022.

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14.When Sen. John Thune said that marriage equality is an issue that Democrat politicians "have concocted because they would like to shift the issue."

15.When Sen. Josh Hawley said that the Supreme Court went "too far" and that "we should let the states decide."

"The problem with Obergefell is that I don't think there is any constitutional basis for the Supreme Court to say, 'This is what the definition of marriage is according to the Constitution. I don't think the Constitution has marriage in it,'" Hawley told Raw Story. "And I think the states — traditionally that has been — because the definition of marriage, that has been a big controversy in this country all around the country. And the states have defined it one way or another and I think that that's the right difference," he clarified.

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16.When this Trump supporter said that she doesn't "believe in gay marriage" because "that's how she has been brought up."