Democrats defend marriage equality
The clock is ticking. Gridlock is coming. Democrats must protect real, freedom-loving Americans from authoritarians coming for their rights.
The Senate on Wednesday took a crucial step toward passing landmark legislation to provide federal protections for same-sex marriages, as 12 Republicans joined Democrats to advance the Respect for Marriage Act, putting it on track to become law in the twilight of the Democratic-held Congress.
The 62-to-37 vote, which came only days after the midterm elections in which Democrats retained control of the Senate but lost the House to Republicans, was a rare and notable last gasp of bipartisanship by a lame duck Congress as lawmakers looked toward an era of political gridlock.
It also signaled a remarkable shift in American politics and culture, demonstrating how same-sex marriage, once a divisive issue, has been so widely accepted that a law to protect the rights of same-sex couples across the country could gain decisive, bipartisan majorities in both the Senate and the House. Last summer, 47 House Republicans joined Democrats to pass a version of the bill.
Newly reinstated Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell voted against moving the legislation forward. He got blistered on Twitter.
“Truly stunning how these people don’t care about anyone but themselves,” tweeted Victor Shi, co-host of iGen Politics.
Next, Republicans are coming for your birth control and IVF, warns Huffington Post:
Anti-abortion activists cautioned Republican lawmakers in Tennessee against immediately campaigning to roll back access to in vitro fertilization and contraception, according to a conference call recording obtained by ProPublica.
Those types of attacks on reproductive freedoms should wait another year or two, an activist said on the Oct. 27 call, which ProPublica published on Tuesday.
The report illustrates how anti-abortion organizations are strategizing to put even more restrictions on reproductive health care in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
It’s plain where the religious fringe means to take the country. Back 50 years or more.
“Maybe your caucus gets to a point next year, two years from now, three years from now, where you do want to talk about IVF, and how to regulate it in a more ethical way, or deal with some of those contraceptive issues,” said Stephen Billy, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America’s vice president for state affairs. “But I don’t think that that’s the conversation that you need to have now.”
It took the religious right decades to reverse Roe in the Supreme Court. They mean to go slow to go big on revanchism.
Throw charges of “culture war” back in their faces. The religious right is waging one against women. Women need reminding again and again because, as the recording shows, the religious right means to move next once the furor over banning abortion dies down.
Democrats had best make the most of their last two months in full control of Congress. Let’s do more than hope protecting women’s freedom to decide if and when to have children is next up for a vote. Demand it.
(h/t SM)