, UpgRepublicans Split on Same-Sex Marriage Bill, Faces Uncertainty in Senate
GOP senators are split between their conservative cultural base, which opposes the idea, and the majority of the country, which favors legal gay marriage.
Photo: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell at a news conference after the Republican Caucus' weekly luncheon at the Capitol on June 22, 2022.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell at a news conference after the Republican Caucus' weekly luncheon at the Capitol on June 22. Ting Shen/Bloomberg via – A bill that would codify federal protections for same-sex marriage has passed the House, but Senate Republicans are agonizing over whether to block or let it pass.
As Democrats want to paint Republicans as a retrograde and primitive party that wants to throw away modern rights, her decision could play a role in this fall's election. Some GOP strategists want the party to avoid the issue by codifying the protections, but that risks angering cultural conservatives, who make up a significant portion of the party's base. A Gallup poll released last month found that a majority of Americans — 71 percent — favor legal same-sex marriage.
"This issue puts Republicans in an awkward position," said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College. "A majority of Americans support same-sex marriage. Even a majority of self-identified Republicans support it." But evangelicals make up a large portion of GOP activists and are still opposed.
"More generally, Republican activists don't like the idea of Democrats winning — even on an issue where there's a general public consensus," he said.
So far, Democrats have blocked nearly half of the Republican votes needed to crack the 60-vote mark. With many GOP senators dismissing the bill as unnecessary and accusing Democrats of trying to weaponize a problem they say is fixed, it's unclear whether the legislation will garner enough Republican support to become law.