AFA of PA ACTION ALERT

September 6, 2022

Issue

The US Senate Is Back in Session Today and . . .

Details

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has promised to bring HR 8404, the misnamed “Respect for Marriage Act,” up for a vote.   He needs ten Republicans to join the Democrats to get the bill to a full floor vote.   The question is will he get them?  At least four have already expressed possible support for the bill.  Will Senator Pat Toomey join them to vote ‘yea’ on the misnamed “Respect for Marriage Act”?  Currently federal law (Defense of Marriage Act or DOMA) states marriage is only between one man and one woman and this has caused Democrats “concern” that the US Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell decision which forced same-sex “marriage” on all 50 states will be overturned even as Roe was. 

Here’s some of what passage of the bill would do:

  1. Repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act which defines marriage for federal purposes as only between one man and one woman.
  2. Force all states to honor marriages performed in other states.  Did you know as of 2020, Pennsylvania was only one of three states that banned marriages for those under 18?  PA, Delaware and New Jersey have now been joined by Minnesota in banning child marriages.  Though most states set the minimum marriage age at 18, exceptions in 46 states allow children under 18 to be married.  So, if a 13-year-old is forced to marry in one of the states that allow such, PA would be forced to recognize the marriage, if HR 8404 becomes law!  
  3. There is absolutely nothing in this bill that protects religious freedom.   Remember all the Christian business owners i.e. Jack Phillips with Masterpiece Cakeshop and Aaron and Melissa Klein with Sweetcakes by Melissa who were dragged into court for refusing to back cakes for ‘gay’ weddings after the 2015 Supreme Court ruling that forced ‘gay’ marriage on all 50 states?   Phillips won his case, but is back in court for not baking a “transgender” cake.  The Kleins lost their business.  There are many other examples out there and if HR 8404 becomes law that number will grow exponentially!    If same-sex “marriage” becomes federal law, will your pastor be forced to perform same-sex ‘marriages’?  Will your church be forced to allow a ‘gay’ couple to rent your facility for a wedding reception?
  4. If HR 8404 becomes federal law, the LGBTQ indoctrination of our school children will intensify!
  5. It empowers the U.S. attorney general and private individuals to sue anyone “under the color of law” that does not give “full faith and credit” to another state’s law.

Action Steps

When the US Supreme Court forced same-sex “marriage” on the nation in 2015, Republicans expressed outrage, but, as evidenced by the House vote (where 47 Republicans joined all the Democrats), they seem to be far less likely to stand against the redefinition of marriage in 2022. Contact Senator Bob Casey, Jr. and Senator Pat Toomey by clicking here Tell them to vote ‘nay’ on HR 8404.  Yes, Casey will probably still vote for the bill, but he needs to know his constituents do not support