This column, from the weekly opinion piece MATTER OF FACT, first appeared on BrooklynReporter.com, the Home Reporter and Spectator dated Jul 22, 2022
On the heels of the recent Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, in which Justice Clarence Thomas declared in a concurring opinion that prior marriage equality rulings should be reversed, the House of Representatives passed the Respect for Marriage Act on Tuesday, July 19. The Obergefell v. Hodges decision that guaranteed same-sex couples the right to marry in 2015 is in jeopardy and this legislation passed by the House seven years later is intended to codify marriage equality.
The passage of the bill was bipartisan, in that 47 Republicans joined 220 Democrats in voting for it. The difference between the two sides though, is that while all 220 Democrats voted yea, the number of Republicans who cast their votes against marriage equality was 157. In 2022, at a time when 70 percent of Americans support marriage equality, 77 percent of House Republicans voted against it. Although there are a majority of votes in support of it in the Senate, due to the filibuster’s 60-vote threshold, the legislation will be dead on arrival in the upper chamber of Congress.
Locally, every New York City-based House Representative voted to codify same-sex marriage, including Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis, who was one of the 23 percent of GOP House Reps who chose to do so. Malliotakis did the right thing, however it did not appear she wanted to draw attention to that.
Although Malliotakis released a statement confirming that she would vote to codify same-sex marriage rights, while also expressing regret for having previously voted to deny that right to same-sex couples in New York when she was a member of the State Assembly, on social media, where she provides most of her updates to her constituents, there was nary a word about her vote in support of same-sex marriage rights.
“Being unwilling to stand behind what you are voting for indicates that you stand for very little.”
Days earlier, the House passed a bill that would prevent doctors from being criminally punished for providing reproductive care in another state and another to restore abortion rights in all 50 states. These were not bipartisan votes in any sense and fell strictly along party lines.
All but three Republicans voted in favor of criminalizing actions, such as those of the doctor of a ten-year old girl who sought an abortion in Indiana after being raped and impregnated in a state that now suddenly prohibits abortion in all instances. All Republicans voted against restoring abortion rights to the Roe v. Wade standard that was the law of the land for nearly a half-century until a few weeks ago.
Malliotakis voted against both bills. Again, she did not share her votes or her reasoning for them publicly with her constituents. She tweeted and posted frequently on the days of these votes about affairs in various Middle Eastern countries and stoking fears about crime locally, but there was no mention of these consequential votes that affect constituents right here in Brooklyn and Staten Island who are gay or could become pregnant.
Doing the right thing and casting a vote in support of marriage equality, in opposition to the vast majority of her fellow GOP colleagues, seemed to have been done in a way where hopefully no one would notice. While votes to not only deny abortion rights, but to criminalize health care professionals who provide reproductive care, also appeared to be undertaken in the hopes they would fly under the radar.
Voting to ensure basic human rights, against your own party, should not be something one does with the intention that nobody catches wind of it. And voting against something, in line with your party, should not be something one does while hoping it all goes unseen. Being unwilling to stand behind what you are voting for indicates that you stand for very little.
This is today’s Republican party. Members who vote against the GOP-majority, but with most Americans, to support endowing everyone, including gay Americans, equal rights to marry, need to take that stand silently with their head down. Members who toe the party line and vote to deny over a hundred million Americans the right to make their own reproductive health decisions, often do so quietly, hoping nobody learns of it. This is the opposite of the old adage, your vote is your voice.
