Weeks after
the Supreme Court declared same-sex marriage a constitutional right, conservative lawmakers are continuing with a campaign to have Congress address the issue even though the Republican leadership has shown little appetite for pursing it,
The Washington Post reported.
Some lawmakers continue to hoping for a long-term solution that would create a constitutional amendment allowing states to decide the legality of same-sex marriage.
But others believe a more realistic solution would be to pass the First Amendment Defense Act that would protect individuals or groups that believe that gay marriage is immoral from being subject to government sanction.
The measure being introduced in the House already has 124 co-sponsors while a Senate version has 34 co-sponsors, both of which are widely supported by conservatives though they do not have enough support at this stage to guarantee passage, the Post said.
"Individual Americans, of course, may differ in their views about the definition of marriage; they may differ in their views about how this decision should have been reached," Utah GOP Sen. Mike Lee, author of the Senate bill, said at a press conference Thursday, according to the Post.
"But I do think Americans are overwhelmingly united in their belief that religious freedom needs to be protected and that neither a person nor any group of people ought to be subject to government retaliation against based on their religious beliefs … That's why we're pushing this bill."
The First Amendment Defense Act would focus on the actions the government is permitted to take, such as potentially revoking the tax-exempt status of churches and nonprofit groups or denying them government grants, contracts or jobs, the Post said.
The measure says that the federal government "shall not take any discriminatory action against a person, wholly or partially on the basis that such person believes or acts in accordance with a religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman, or that sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage."
Last week, Kansas GOP Gov. Sam Brownback issued an executive order to that effect, protecting the religious freedom of clergy and organizations that oppose same-sex marriage as his state moved to implement the law and recognize same-sex healthcare benefits.
Idaho GOP Rep. Raul Labrador, a lead sponsor of the House bill, said, according to the Post, "All Americans should be free to believe and act in the public square based on their beliefs about marriage without fear of government retaliation or penalty."
He added, "This is a great bill that all conservatives, libertarians, Democrats, Republicans should get behind, that could generate support in both parties and that can actually pass both houses of Congress."
House Speaker John Boehner, however, has declined to commit to bringing the First Amendment Defense Act, or any other measure relating to gay marriage, to the floor of the House.
"A number of members have concerns about issues that it raises and how they might be addressed," Boehner said of the ruling, according to the Post. "But no decision has been made on how best to address these."
Freedom for All Americans, an advocacy group that lobbies for stronger anti-gay discrimination laws, described the First Amendment Defense Act as "a broadly written bill that would allow individuals and organizations to discriminate against millions of Americans — including LGBT people, single mothers, unmarried couples, same-sex couples and others — based on their marital status," the Post reported.
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