Just in case you weren’t clear on where the Republican Party stands on the issue of equal marriage rights, Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) vowed to file a constitutional amendment later this week to restore DOMA.
“My response to this will be later this week to file a federal marriage amendment,” Huelskamp said while speaking at a Conversation with Conservatives lunch on Wednesday morning, according to Politico.
You might think Speaker Boehner would offer a high speed bump to this path to electoral destruction for his party, but it seems spineless Boehner has lost any nerve he once had. It was Boehner who defended DOMA when President Obama and AG Holder refused to do so, so he’s already laboring under yet another failure today.
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The Speaker observed vaguely that he was “disappointed” in the decision and in a statement, noted that checks and balances are important. Boehner then left Republican hopes pinned on the states siding with them. This is the equivalent of saying he’s rhetorically siding with conservatives but not promising to do anything other than offer a faded flag of support for hate. Of course, it’s irrelevant what Speaker Boehner says these days, as he’s obviously not running the House of Representatives.
Republicans are hoping to use their limited government ideology in order to actually take away rights on a state-by-state basis now that the US Supreme Court finds their policy violates equal protection under the law.
Huelskamp is a “rank and file” Republican, according to GovTrack’s analysis of bill sponsorship. Thus, his bill sponsorship has in the past accurately represented the rank and file of the Republican Party. This is not good news for the party.
Huelskamp is the man who scornfully told Think Progress that even if his own son came out as gay, he would still be opposed to same sex marriage because he supports “traditional marriage.”
Republicans just can’t catch a break these days, except for the SCOTUS ruling on Tuesday that will allow Republicans to continue their jihad against minorities who want to exercise their right to vote.
Maybe we’ll see Republicans proposing laws to make it harder for gay and lesbian citizens to vote next. After all, when they can’t force the court to legislate from the bench, the next move is to make it harder for “those people” to vote.
Republicans just can’t help themselves from struggling against the tide of popular opinion in service of a big government agenda to restrict rights to people they don’t agree with. It’s one thing to not approve of others’ lifestyle and quite another to believe it’s your right to impose your beliefs on others in the form of stripping them of equal protection under the law.
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