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.
