NC House Republicans voted against marriage equality. Thom Tillis can help rescue it.

It was, all things considered, a historic moment: the U.S. House approved legislation Tuesday codifying marriage equality nationwide, and it did so with bipartisan support. The Respect for Marriage Act passed in a vote of 267-157, with 47 Republicans joining Democrats in supporting it.

Unfortunately, none of those Republicans were from North Carolina. All eight Republicans representing our state chose to vote against the bill.

In the Senate, however, North Carolina’s two Republican senators have a chance to avoid showing the same narrow-mindedness as their counterparts in the House by helping the bill become law. At least 10 Republicans will have to support the bill to avoid a filibuster, and Sen. Thom Tillis indicated Wednesday that he will “probably support” it.

The likely support of Tillis and other senators gives the bill, which enshrines federal protections for same-sex and interracial marriage, real momentum. It’s also a signal that there is room in the party for tolerance and growth, given that Tillis has a history of supporting or ignoring legislative attacks on the LGBTQ+ community. We applaud what looks like growth, and we hope other Republicans, including Richard Burr, join him.

More of that growth can be seen in the fact that two Republicans from South Carolina voted for the bill in the House, as well as six Republicans from Florida. The entire Utah delegation, four of whom are Republicans, backed it. Most North Carolina Republicans, on the other hand, are still firmly planting themselves on the wrong side of progress.

It’s not exactly surprising, since our state in particular has historically been hostile toward LGBTQ+ people. In 2012, North Carolina passed Amendment One, the last state constitutional amendment in the country to ban same-sex marriage. Tillis, at the time, was state House speaker. The amendment is still part of our constitution, but unenforceable after the courts struck it down in 2014.

Rep. Dan Bishop (NC-09) said in a statement that the bill is an “attack on Americans who hold the view that marriage is between one man and one woman” and would “undermine the traditional foundation of the family unit.”

Bishop was the only one to provide an explanation for his vote. The other seven Republicans did not respond to a request for comment from the Editorial Board.

Republicans like Bishop would do well to remember that that a majority of Americans do support same-sex marriage. A record 71% of Americans say it should be legal, according to a recent Gallup poll. America is not a theocracy, and it should not be governed by theological beliefs.

It’s not just about same-sex marriage, either — it’s about the ability of any person to love and marry whomever they wish. The Respect for Marriage Act also protects interracial marriage, a right affirmed by the Supreme Court in 1967 in Loving v. Virginia. It ensures that any couple can have their marriage recognized under the law, regardless of what state they live in.

Many GOP politicians, who have called the bill a “political charade” and a “stupid waste of time,” suggest Congress should focus on more important priorities that the American public actually cares about, such as inflation. Believe it or not, however, fighting inflation and voting on marriage equality aren’t mutually exclusive.

And for the millions of Americans who fear their rights could be taken away with one stroke of the court’s pen, public opinion be damned, this is a priority. They aren’t all part of the “woke mob” — they’re wide-ranging in their political beliefs, and they just want the same rights as everybody else. Do they not deserve that?

For as much as Republicans crow about freedom, too many of them seem pretty limited in who they think that freedom should apply to. This bill, straightforward as it was, could have been an opportunity for them to show North Carolinians that they aren’t as intolerant as their opponents say they are. It’s disappointing that, so far, Tillis is the only one who has chosen to embrace it.

This story was originally published July 20, 2022 at 1:37 PM with the headline "NC House Republicans voted against marriage equality. Thom Tillis can help rescue it.."