The U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday on final passage of the (Dis)Respect for Marriage Act. The bill passed 258-169.
The bill, now awaiting President Joe Biden’s anticipated signature, will accelerate and intensify the already-existing attacks on religious liberty (by creating a private right of action); legislatively cement anti-family policies harmful to children; make faith-based adoption and foster-care agencies a greater target for frivolous litigation, curtailing or ending their ability to help children find homes; threaten the tax-exempt status of adoption and foster care agencies (and other vitally needed non-profit organizations, whether religious or secular); and tacitly vilify millions of Americans who believe in natural marriage by labeling that belief as “sex discrimination,” tantamount to racism.
Family Research Council president Tony Perkins released the following statement after the (Dis)Respect for Marriage Act achieved final passage in Congress:
“Today is a dark day for religious freedom. The Left’s forces of religious hostility, aided by 12 Republican senators and 39 Republican representatives, advanced what history may ultimately record as one of the greatest assaults on religious freedom in modern history. These members are yielding to the temporal forces of the culture rather than the transcendent principles of our nation’s constitution.
“With their vote in support of this bill, these Republican members of Congress have marked their departure from the U.S. pro-family movement. For with this vote, they are exacting a price from their pro-family supporters and laying a heavy burden on Christians in the United States (and even worldwide), who will be increasingly marginalized and cast out of ‘proper society.’
“Who created the institution of marriage and why? God created marriage for the well-being of children and a well-ordered society. The congressional vote to redefine marriage in federal law puts both at risk. Whether by the Court or by the Congress, truth cannot be altered–nor will our commitment to that truth,” Perkins concluded.
