A bill moving through Congress would codify same-sex marriage into law. The Respect for Marriage act ensures that the Obergefell v. Hodges case, which the Supreme Court decided on in 2015, would not be overturned.
The bill has support from Democrats and Republicans alike, including legislators who previously supported ideas that marriage should be between a man and a woman. One of its Republican supporters is Senator Roy Blunt.
However, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft has penned a letter to the Senator from Missouri, pleading with him to reconsider his support for the bill. In his letter to Blunt, Ashcroft writes, “RFMA runs afoul of traditional principles of federalism, will embolden an already weaponized U.S. Department of Justice, and is simply counter to Missourians’ overwhelming desire that marriage be between a man and a woman.”
Pew Research Center shows that as of 2014, a slight majority of Missourians supported same-sex marriage, contrary to Ashcroft’s claims. The number he cites is from ten years prior in 2004, when more than 70% of Missourians voted to define marriage as between a man and a woman in the state Constitution. Even more recent data from TargetPoint in 2022 shows that 60% of Missourians support same-sex marriage.
Ashcroft’s letter to Blunt even includes a handwritten message at the bottom, which reads “Please, I urge you to stand strong for Missourians.” Blunt has not publicly responded.
Read the full letter here.
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