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Time'sCome to Rid Of Remnants Gay Bigotry in Congress



They think they can erase the colors but we know better





The time has come for us to take a bold stand against the remnants of anti-LGBT bigotry in Congress.

On Tuesday, July 19th, the U.S. House of Representatives did something glorious: with a bipartisan 267-157 majority, it voted to repeal the atrocious and unconstitutional Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”). DOMA, which was passed in 1996 during a conservative-fueled gay panic, banned same-sex marriages at the federal level and let states refuse to recognize such unions.

 DOMA was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2015 for being unconstitutional, a decision that legalized LGBT marriages all across America. However, since President Trump appointed three conservative justices to the court, the likelihood of the decision’s eventual reversal significantly increased.

As a preventative measure, Democrats proposed legislation to repeal DOMA and replace it with the Respect of Marriage Act (“ROMA”), which would codify the right to same-sex and interracial marriage and prevent states from denying those rights. ROMA passed the House swiftly, with all Democrats and 47 Republicans voting Yes, a rare showing of bipartisan support.

However, despite this victory, 157 Republican members of Congress still voted No and refused to support same-sex marriage. Even though LGBT folks getting married has not caused the sky to collapse, even though 71% of Americans express support for gay marriage, these 157 Republicans still chose bigotry.

Their No votes are even more disgusting when you consider that failing to pass ROMA could eventually lead to the nullification of existing marriages. As we saw with the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court has no problem taking away the rights of others, consequences be damned. Any person who could be okay with the possibility of families being destroyed can only be described with one word: wrong. Unequivocally wrong.

The need to pass ROMA should have been obvious to all 157 Republicans, but the No votes of 4 of these Republicans are especially egregious.

Why?

Because these 4 Republicans are trying to win re-election to liberal-leaning, Democratic-supporting congressional districts! All of them are asking for the support of voters who supported Biden by sizable margins, and whose support for LGBT rights is evident!

With polling showing over 70% of all Americans—including many Republicans!—support same-sex marriage, it is obvious that the constituents of these districts would want their members of Congress to vote YES to gay marriage.

Instead, they ignored the voters in these districts, and chose to vote NO!

Why did they vote no? None of them have chosen to comment on their votes, but the likely explanation is the obvious one: they are die-hard socially conservative extremists who will go out of their way to pick on LGBT Americans.

As if their extremism wasn’t obvious enough, Chabot, Steel, and Herrell all opposed last year’s bipartisan, common sense infrastructure deal. And none of them voted to certify President Biden’s election as President, and Flores very obviously wouldn’t have.

Chabot, Steel, Herrell, and Flores do not deserve to be re-elected in 2022. But there is some good news: all four of these Republicans are vulnerable and have strong Democratic opponents.

Political prognosticators who track these races all agree that OH-01, CA-45, NM-02, and TX-34 are competitive districts. And all four of them will be running against formidable Democratic challengers in November who strongly support LGBT equality:

  • In CA-45, Navy reserve officer and college community trustee Jay Chen is challenging Steel. He’s an experienced candidate with progressive values who has been endorsed by California Equality, Equality PAC, and Planned Parenthood.
  • In NM-02, Las Cruces City Councilor Gabe Vasquez is running with the endorsements of Planned Parenthood and Equality PAC.
  • In OH-01, a former teacher and Cincinnati City Councilman Greg Landsman is running and also has received endorsements from Equality PAC and Planned Parenthood.
  • In TX-34, an incumbent Democrat, Congressman Vicente Gonzalez, is competing in the same district as Flores. He voted for the ROMA legislation and has a record of supporting LGBT rights in Congress.

We have the chance to help elect these pro-equality candidates and send a message to these four anti-LGBT Republicans: respect your constituents. Respect LGBT rights, or face the consequences at the ballot box.

Because all four of these districts have a history of voting for Democratic candidates, we know that these Democratic challengers can win. But to do so, they need our help. . 

If you are not in a position to donate, you can help in other ways. Following the candidates on social media platforms can help boost their message (see the previous links to their websites).

However, we also need to spread the word about their votes and our fundraiser. Please click the following links to do so:

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If you would rather not share the fundraiser directly, please consider recommending and sharing this blog post instead. You can do so easily by clicking the Recommend, Facebook, or Twitter buttons at the top and bottom of this blog post. When sharing on Twitter, it can help to add a relevant hashtag, such as #LGBTQ or #Equality.

Through our collective action of donating and spreading the word about these four anti-LGBT Republicans, we can help elect better members of Congress and hopefully improve the discourse and political climate for LGBT Americans for decades to come.

Originally posted on Daily Koos

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