“Just this week, another judge struck down a state marriage amendment. One of the most novel was Judge Jones in Pennsylvania back in May – he struck down Pennsylvania’s marriage amendment saying ‘it’s time to throw marriage laws onto the ash heap of history’.Frankly, I think it’s time we throw the opinions of unelected judges onto the dunghill of history where they belong.”
— Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, who made the statement as part of a sermon at Cornerstone Chapel in Virginia, in which he called for the courts system to be abolished due to the recent spate of rulings against same-sex marriage bans that have taken place across the country. Source: Pink
As Democrats celebrated major wins in key state contests on November 4, a wave of out LGBTQ candidates scored victories of their own in local and down-ballot races, further boosting LGBTQ representation in public office.
In Virginia, boosted by Abigail Spanberger's win in the governor's race, Democrats picked up 13 seats in the 100-member House of Delegates, increasing the size of their caucus to 64. All six incumbent LGBTQ delegates who were up for re-election -- Rozia Henson (D-Woodbridge), Laura Jane Cohen (D-Burke), Mark Sickles (D-Franconia), Adele McClure (D-Arlington), Joshua Cole (D-Fredericksburg) and Cia Price (D-Newport News) -- won their races.
David Urban, a Republican strategist and CNN commentator who served as a senior advisor to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, has written an op-ed accusing Democrats of fear-mongering for suggesting that the U.S. Supreme Court might overturn its 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision legalizing same-sex marriage.
In his USA Today op-ed, Urban accuses "hyperpartisan liberals" of trying to "sow fear and discontent" by suggesting that the Supreme Court could reverse its own precedent and strike down the 2015 ruling -- a move that would immediately reinstate same-sex marriage bans still on the books in 32 states.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace once cast herself as an LGBTQ-friendly Republican. She has since become one of Congress’s loudest opponents of transgender rights -- and is now echoing a familiar refrain used by opponents of same-sex marriage on social media.
"Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve," wrote Mace on X, repeating a long-used slogan that mocks same-sex relationships as “abnormal” and frames homosexuality as contrary to the Bible. The South Carolina congresswoman is currently running for governor.
A community note soon appeared under Mace’s post, pointing out that she voted twice for the Respect for Marriage Act -- once during its initial passage, and again when the House approved the Senate’s version. The 2022 law requires both federal and state governments to recognize same-sex marriages performed in states where they’re legal.
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