INDIANAPOLIS — Senator Mike Braun was one of 37 Republicans who opposed protecting same-sex and interracial marriages by voting against the Respect for Marriage Act on Wednesday.
Despite the opposition, the Senate advanced the legislation after 12 Republican senators sided with the Democrats on a 62-37 vote, sending the bill to Congress. If passed, the Respect for Marriage Act would ensure that same-sex and interracial unions are enshrined in federal law, granting protection to the marriages by requiring states to recognize them regardless of “sex, race, ethnicity, or national origin.”
Senate Democrats hope to move quickly to pass the bill through Congress while the party still holds control of the House.
The Associated Press reported that recent polling found that more than two-thirds of the public support same-sex unions. Despite this, 32 Republicans opposed the bill. The two Indiana senators split on the bill, however. While Braun opposed voting for same-sex and interracial marriage protections, Senator Todd Young was one of the 12 Republicans to vote in favor of the bill.
Al Weaver with The Hill reported that several Republicans came on board to back the proposal after an amendment was unveiled on Monday that contained religious freedom provisions. Even the Mormon church, who previously spent millions opposing gay marriage legislation, backed the measure.
Sen. Braun has come under fire in the past for his comments on interracial marriage. In March, the senator said that the U.S. Supreme Court was wrong to legalize interracial marriage in a ruling that stretches back to Loving v. Virginia in 1967. Braun said the decision should have been left to the states, despite many states having made interracial marriage illegal prior to the Loving v. Virginia ruling.
Braun later backtracked by stating he’d misunderstood the line of questioning, even though a reporter had asked him the question twice.
With Braun’s most recent lack of support of the Respect for Marriage Act, the Indiana Democratic Party once more criticized the senator for “siding with his party’s extremist wing” instead of supporting a policy that had “high approval” and was “business-friendly.”
“Indiana Democrats celebrate the passage of The Respect for Marriage Act, because the more inclusive Indiana could be as a community, the closer the state gets to halting its brain drain and closer we get to creating a brighter economic future for everyone,” said Mike Schmuhl, the Indiana Democratic Party chair.
Senator Braun’s office has not yet responded to a request for comment.
