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Democrats Block ‘Religious Liberty’ Amendment

'Religious Liberty' Amendment Blocked By Democrats
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) | Image by Bill Clark / Gettyimages

A Republican amendment that aims to strengthen religious liberty protections in the “Respect for Marriage” Act has been blocked by Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The act, which would require the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages, advanced from the Senate to the House on November 29 following a 61–36 vote, with 12 Republicans voting in favor. Texas Senators John Cornyn (R) and Ted Cruz (R) voted against the bill.

House Representative Chip Roy (R-TX) then offered an amendment prohibiting the federal government from retaliating against any individual or organization that opposes same-sex marriage on religious or moral grounds.

On Monday, the Democrat-controlled House Rules Committee held a hearing on the amendment. Committee chairman, Rep. James McGovern (D-MA), refused to allow the amendment to advance to the House floor.

He explained that Democrats want to pass the act during the current lame-duck session of Congress before Republicans assume control of the House in January.

“If we were to amend this, and it goes back to the Senate, for all intents and purposes, it’s dead for the year,” McGovern said. “And many of us believe that we have a court right now that is hellbent on trying to reverse the rights for the LGBTQ community, and we do not trust them to respect marriage equality in this country.”

Rep. Roy’s amendment was identical to one proposed in the Senate by Mike Lee (R-UT), which did not pass. Roy criticized the House Rules Committee for pushing a bill to the floor without allowing it to be amended or debated.

“Congress will vote to redefine marriage and hand LGBTQ activists a legislative sword to freely swing at innocent Americans” who hold “millennia-old religious beliefs,” he said.

Because members of Congress were not allowed to debate the proposed amendment in a single committee hearing or hear from witnesses, they “will be forced to vote up or down on a bill that they were not allowed to amend or even serious[ly] debate,” stated Roy.

McGovern told Republicans that while they may challenge the effort to codify same-sex marriage when they take control of the House, Democrats will fight back.

“You can bring one amendment after another to reverse the last 70 years of social progress,” he said. “We will oppose you on that.”

The Respect for Marriage Act has received backlash from conservatives who say it threatens the religious freedom of those who hold to the traditional view of marriage.

Roger Severino, vice president of domestic policy at the Heritage Foundation, argued same-sex couples already have benefits, protections, and rights that are secured by the Obergefell decision.

If passed, the bill will allow people to sue people of faith who disagree with same-sex marriage — particularly “religious nonprofits, tax-exempt organizations, adoption agencies, and religious schools,” Severino claimed.

The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the bill — sans Roy’s amendment — this week.

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21 Comments

  1. Joe

    Don’t believe anything the Heritage Foundation says.

    Reply
    • David

      Just illustrated your lack understanding Heritage Foundation!

      Reply
  2. Arthur

    If the LGBT is a culture that in the world now. Why they want to make everybody except they unmoral mind set. Good to their LGBT community and get their web designer or baker. The Supreme ruler will have the last say at the end of the day. Have their fun now.

    Reply
    • Ellamae

      Why is it that christians are so intolerant. Maybe you should read the Hebrew Bible. That is where todays Bible came from. So whomever translated it twisted the wording to satisfy their agenda.

      Reply
      • Doran Chambers

        Most of the liberals need to read the book of Genesis one man one woman. Wife is always female. Husband is always male can’t be any other way. Open ur mind if u have one and stop pushing ur beliefs on the Christian We r not pushing our beliefs on u.

        Reply
        • Brandy Peach

          Christians attack our way of life they scream at us about how we are going to hell they attack us at our safe place and proselytize every time they see anything about us. There is no hate like christian love. It is pushed on us every day from everywhere in the streets to in the media. The LGBTQ+ community is saying we exist please just let us be and the Christians are saying we are abominations and should burn in hell, or as your pastors have pointed out tried found guilty lined up and shot in the back of the head. So follow your book and leave us alone. MATTHEW 10:14 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.

          Reply
          • Wrath

            The LGBTQXYZ did exist in harmony with everyone. Until they decided to force others to accept their way of life… suing bakers ( they had other choices but decided to be legal tyrants), grooming children and exposing them to drag queen story hours ( sorry not for kids… parents decide). Your lifestyle is your choice but when you push a narrative that it’s everyone’s task to accept this lifestyle as their own and normal. You push to far. Christians don’t hate you… they want to be left alone and not be confronted by you…live your life…be happy. Have friendships with straight people as well as gay. But using your lifestyles as a bully pulpit will go against you.

        • Brandy Peach

          Christians attack our way of life they scream at us about how we are going to hell they attack us at our safe place and proselytize every time they see anything about us. There is no hate like christian love. It is pushed on us every day from everywhere in the streets to in the media. The LGBTQ+ community is saying we exist please just let us be and the Christians are saying we are abominations and should burn in hell, or as your pastors have pointed out tried found guilty lined up and shot in the back of the head. So please follow the Bible you clutch and leave us alone. MATTHEW 10:14 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet

          Reply
        • Tracy

          Very well said!! All we can do is pray for them and tell them what the word of God says in the KJV BIBLE. They to will stand before the one and only JUDGE just as we will the same and that’s JESUS CHRIST!!

          Reply
        • Hunter Shaffer

          Correct, lesbians who get married are wives, and gays who get married are husbands. Nice observation.

          Side note, your fairy tale is not a legal document and shouldn’t hold up in court. This can’t be the land of the free if it’s controlled by a religious majority, you wouldn’t respect the government if they were forcing you to adhere to the values of the Muslim religion, why should I adhere to yours?

          Reply
        • Rev Charles C Burnett-Morrow

          One man and one woman FOR LIFE, divorce is NOT permitted and remarriage is adultery, according to Jesus! So get YOUR facts straight. Funny how “Christians” can twist and pervert Scripture to suit their purposes. But God NEVER condemned David or Solomon, who each had hundreds of wives and concubines! So apparently, the fact that the “plan” from the beginning was one man and one woman (according to your reading), God was not so hell-bent on that issue that He was willing to judge or destroy ANYONE who did differently. Polygamy is as ancient a practice as ANY marital arrangement, yet America (land of the “free” unless you do not believe as the religious right believes) outlaws this practice. I neither believe in it, nor would I practice it, but if others want to, their adults, they can do as they please. Bottom line, people like you are hypocrites who read INTO the Bible whatever they please and then try to force their interpretation upon others. NOWHERE in Scripture is the church sanctioned, ordered or ordained to commit ANY type of religious marriage ceremony. ANY such ceremony is a matter of tradition, NOT Biblical mandate. So claiming “marriage” as it is defined today is as it has always been, is pure garbage. In Biblical times, through the New Testament, marriage was a PERSONAL contract between two people, consummated intimately (sexually). NOTHING was “legal” or committed to paper until such time as a divorce was granted, and then it was written by the divorcing spouse, not a court or government agency. The notion that government has ANY say in ANYONE’S intimate relationships is pure bunk and a practice which has NO FOUNDATION in Scripture, whatsoever. Again, get your facts straight.

          Reply
    • Jay Raines

      Because we are not immoral I really wish people would think about historical need against what is known now. I would never choose to be trans it is the last thing I would choose for anyone yet at the end of the day I am still trans and my God still can’t change that fact no matter what.

      Reply
      • H.S

        We are all immoral , sinful people and in need of God. Sin, which began with Adam and Eve, is our curse. The Bible, written by men but inspired by God is the the truth that we should aspire to as a society. Today, our feelings dictate truth and that only creates confusion, depression, anxiety, despair, etc. We all need forgiveness, love, joy and that comes thru Christ! Seek him first! Unfortunately man thinks he knows better. Pride is the downfall of man

        Reply
  3. Diane Weech

    Please fight against this bill, so many Pastors,their church and Christian businesses will suffer. There will be dozens of filed lawsuits

    Reply
    • Brandy Peach

      Oh noes the ones thay have said they love the Club Q shooting or that we need to be shot in the back of the head may be uncomfy. You know how many tears that will make me cry 0 to steal words from these religious leaders and don’t say all Christians until the ones that don’t hate stand up against their own it is all, all it takes for evil to win is for the good to stay silent.

      Reply
      • Dick Smith

        Huh?

        Reply
  4. Ted

    This new Act will make it legal for a person to marry anyone of their choosing – a member of the same sex, a member of the opposite sex, a relative or close family member, and possibly even someone or something else. To sustain the human race, a man and a woman unite in marriage. Any other union will not procreate and continue the human race, and would seem to violate God’s law as shared by Jesus himself. Therefore, why punish those who keep this command and favor those who want variety instead?

    Reply
  5. Sharon

    Politicians as a group, are power hungry individuals that have no one, but themselves that they think about. “It’s look what the Dems did” or the Rebubs darn near break an arm patting themselves on the back. Well past time for term limits.

    Reply
  6. William Martin

    Your religious beliefs and traditions are outdated. You need to evolve your beliefs and traditions along with greater society’s. And stop with your totalitarian agenda. We don’t need such bigotry anymore!

    Reply
  7. William Martin

    Your Bible is a mish mash of fairy tales. You Christian’s celebrate pagan festivals, i. e. Christmas which is not when your christ was born. The Jewish shepherds kept their sheep in sheep holds during the winter months and then took them out to the fields in the warmer months. Yuletide is the celebration of when the sun reached its zenith and starts its return from the farthest point, called solstice. Easter was dedicated to the spring equinox when the earth shows Her fertility, thus eggs and rabbits as symbols of fertility. I could continue but I think if you did your research in reality you’d stop with your totalitarianism attempting to force others into your lifestyle.

    Reply
  8. William Martin

    Now this page wants to censor truth because it offends the deceived masses

    Reply

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