DNC slams Trump, MAGA Republicans on anniversary of Respect for Marriage Act

The Democratic National Committee slammed former President Donald Trump and other Republicans for their positions on marriage equality in a statement Wednesday, on the one-year anniversary of President Joe Biden’s signage of the Respect for Marriage Act:

“After Donald Trump appointed and celebrated far-right extreme judges who were willing to undermine 50 years of precedent and rip away Americans’ freedoms, one year ago today President Biden signed the historic Respect for Marriage Act into law – landmark legislation that reaffirms that love is love and protects every American’s freedom to marry in the face of attacks from the MAGA movement,” said DNC National Press Secretary Sarafina Chitika.

“When Donald Trump, Mike Johnson, and 2024 MAGA Republicans continue to villainize the LGBTQ+ community, they are showing us who they are – and we must believe them,” she said, adding, “The choice next November couldn’t be more clear: President Biden’s plan to pass the Equality Act and ensure rights and freedoms for all Americans, or Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans’ agenda to undermine our freedoms, harbor hate, and enable discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community.”

While Trump has not weighed in directly on the Respect for Marriage Act, he has come out against same-sex marriage repeatedly over the last 20 years.

In 2015, after the U.S. Supreme Court established the constitutional right of LGBTQ couples to wed, he told Lou Dobbs of Fox Business, “if something can happen” to overturn the ruling “most people think it can’t at this point, but I would have loved to have seen the states make the decision, Lou, and let it be that way.”

Having named three right-wing justices who voted to overturn the high court’s precedent protecting abortion access in his first term, Trump in June pledged to “once again appoint rock solid conservative judges in the mold of justices like Antonin Scalia and the great Clarence Thomas” if he is reelected next year.

Thomas, in his concurring opinion in the abortion case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, voiced his support for revisiting rulings on same-sex marriage, contraception, and the nullification of sodomy laws.

In fact, this opinion spurred efforts to pass the Respect for Marriage Act to guard against the fallout that could result if the court were to reverse or substantially weaken its ruling establishing the nationwide constitutional right to marriage equality.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, meanwhile, a candidate for president who is polling in a distant second place behind Trump in surveys of likely GOP primary voters, told Fox host Laura Ingraham the bipartisan group of lawmakers behind the Respect for Marriage Act were “using the power, I think of the federal government in ways that will absolutely put religious institutions in difficult spots.”

On Capitol Hill, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Congressional Equality Caucus celebrated the anniversary with separate statements.

“One year ago, President Joe Biden signed into law the Respect for Marriage Act: a triumph of love, liberty and justice for all,” Pelosi said.

“Responding to a Republican supermajority on the Supreme Court that took explicit aim at marriage equality, this law requires states to recognize same-sex marriages that are valid in the state where they were performed and tossed the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act into the dustbin of history,” she said. “It is with great personal pride that this law protecting marriage bears my signature, as one of the final bills I signed as Speaker of the House.”

Congressional Equality Caucus Chair Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) said, “This law illustrates what’s possible when Democrats and Republicans come together to do what’s right and protect the rights of LGBTQI+ people.”

He added that, “Unfortunately, extremist politicians have introduced an avalanche of anti-equality bills at both the state and federal level since this bill became law, illustrating that progress isn’t always linear. As we celebrate today’s important anniversary, we must also all recommit to defending the rights of LGBTQI+ people, especially the transgender community, every day.”