San Antonio-area U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales was the sole Texas Republican to vote for the legislation, while U.S. Rep. Chip Roy voted against it.
Nearly every Republican member of the U.S. House from Texas voted in opposition Tuesday to a bill that would codify same-sex marriage under federal law.
San Antonio-area U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales was the sole Texas Republican to vote for the legislation, which passed 267-157 with 47 Republicans crossing the aisle. U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, the only other Republican in San Antonio’s House delegation, voted against the legislation, while Brian Babin of Woodville was the only House Republican from Texas who declined to vote.
U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales (Photo: Twitter)
House Democrats introduced the measure in the wake of the conservative-dominated U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last month overturning Roe v. Wade, the almost 50-year-old ruling ensuring the right to abortion.
Far-right figures including Justice Clarence Thomas have opined that the court also should consider reversing the high court’s 2015 ruling that prohibited bans on same-sex marriage.
Lone Star State Democrats immediately seized on the Texas Republicans’ opposition to the marriage equality bill, saying it represented their “terrifying, archaic views.”
“I would strongly urge reporters and constituents alike to ask the below members of Congress whether they think their extremist, far-right views are in line with where we are as a nation in 2022,” Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said in a statement. “[A]nd I would urge all Texans to vote these officials out of office before their radical views are able to become the law of the land.”
A recent Gallup poll shows that three in four Americans support marriage equality.
Gonzales’ vote in support in favor of marriage equality is his second in recent weeks to cross the aisle. Last month, the first-term congressman broke with House Republicans to help pass the landmark bipartisan gun legislation negotiated in the wake of the Uvalde school shooting.
It’s unclear whether the legislation can survive debate in the narrowly divided U.S. Senate, where Democrats would need 10 Republicans to join them in support of its passage.
