MTG voted against speaker nominee for supporting “Democrat gay marriage bill”

Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) is the latest fallen GOP House speaker candidate, dropping out of the race hours after he was nominated due to far-right backlash.

A large portion of that backlash came from the fact that Emmer voted for the 2022 Respect for Marriage Act, which requires the federal and state governments to recognize same-sex and interracial marriages performed by other states.

Related:

Lauren Boebert & colleagues boo reporter for asking speaker nominee about denying the 2020 election

One GOP member yelled at the reporter to “shut up!”

A total of 39 House Republicans voted in favor of the legislation. However, GOP opponents of the bill falsely said it would end religious liberty by requiring churches to perform same-sex marriages and allow the IRS to revoke the tax-exempt status of religious nonprofit organizations that oppose marriage equality. Neither measure was in the bill.

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After Emmer’s defeat for House speaker, anti-LGBTQ+ Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) posted on Twitter that she couldn’t vote for him because he was too supportive of LGBTQ+ rights, among other things.

“He voted for Democrat gay marriage bill,” she wrote, “voted with Democrats to overturn President Trump’s transgender military ban, voted for every penny of Ukraine funding, at one time supported the Soros national popular vote scheme, and voted to certify Biden’s 2020 election. We need a Republican Speaker that reflects the values of Republican voters that can lead our conference.”

Greene was not the only Republican who publicly opposed Emmer due to his record on LGBTQ+ rights. Rep. Rick Allen of Georgia told CNN he was “very concerned” about Emmer’s vote in favor of same-sex marriage and said there was no way he’d vote for him.

In addition to his support of same-sex marriage, other Republicans who opposed Emmer – including Greene – said they wouldn’t vote for him because he voted to certify the 2020 presidential election. Others disapproved of the fact that he voted in favor of a McCarthy spending bill that would have prevented a government shutdown and voted in favor of Ukraine aid.

The newest speaker candidate, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA), is an anti-LGBTQ+ extremist who has spent his career fighting against LGBTQ+ rights.