Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, is leading an effort to amend the controversial Respect for Marriage Act, a same-sex marriage protection law passed last summer with bipartisan support, to include new protections for religious observers who were not included.
In a letter reviewed Tuesday exclusively by Fox News Digital, Roy and 23 other House Republicans asked the House Appropriations Committee leadership to include these new protections in a spending bill for the next fiscal year.
The Respect for Marriage Act requires the federal government and states to recognize same-sex marriages performed in states where they are legal. The law contains language that was intended to ensure that people and organizations who don’t support same-sex marriage don’t face retaliation, but Roy says those protections aren’t enough and these groups are still at risk of losing them, unless the law is strengthened.
Specifically, Roy wants to add language prohibiting the federal government from “taking any discriminatory action against any person, in whole or in part, on the basis that that person speaks or acts in accordance with a genuine religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is, or should be recognized, a union of one man and one woman.”
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Representative Chip Roy. R Texas. ((Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images))
House Republicans want “discriminatory action” to include changing a federal tax treatment, withholding a benefit from the federal government, or accessing federal property or an educational institution that is otherwise publicly available.
“Without this language, we fear that the federal government will systematically discriminate against religious schools, faith-based organizations and other non-profit organizations by blocking their participation in federal programs and revoking their tax-exempt status because of their views on marriage,” the statement said. letter.
“The First Amendment is sacred. It secures the right to write, pray, think, speak and associate as one pleases. These fundamental rights are undisputed and must be protected,” it said.
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The law was passed after the overthrow of Roe against Wade, which brought the issue of abortion rights back to the states. Democrats then became concerned that another case creating a federal right to same-sex marriage could be overturned, leading to the passage of the Respect for Marriage Act.
When the bill was considered in the Senate, Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., An amendment aimed at adding religious freedom protections that the Senate passed. But some Republicans and conservative groups at the time said this amendment didn’t go far enough to protect people who fear lawsuits or government reprisals for their belief in traditional marriage.
US President Joe Biden applauds after signing the Respect for Marriage Act on the South Lawn of the White House on December 13, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Roy says his amendment “ensures that the free exercise of rights of millions of Americans and nonprofits will not be penalized and discriminated against by the federal government because of their beliefs.”
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“Such organizations care for the poor, mentor at-risk youth, feed the hungry, rebuild homes after natural disasters, provide aid to soldiers and first responders, visit prisoners, educate children, and produce millions of good, civic-minded people each year,” Roy said in a statement. to Fox News Digital.
“To use the power of the federal government against them is un-American and would be a huge disservice not only to these organizations, but to this Republic and the fundamental rights it protects,” he said.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas., speaks to reporters as he arrives at a House Republican Caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol Building on Nov. 14, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The letter was praised by religious and conservative advocacy groups such as Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America and Catholic Vote.
“We applaud Rep. Roy for responding quickly to the despicable 2022 law that allows the federal government to target those who believe in marriage,” Catholic Vote President Brian Burch told Fox News Digital.
“In every civilization, marriage has always been a privilege because it binds a father and mother together to raise the next generation of citizens on behalf of the nation. No government should allow activist legislation targeting citizens who respect that definition,” added the group.
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Other signatories to the letter include Reps., Kat Cammack, R-Fla., Jim Banks, R-Ind., Marjorie Taylor Greene, RS.C. and Lauren Boebert, R-Colo.
Brianna Herlihy is a political writer for Fox News Digital.