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WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representative Mark Pocan (WI-02) spoke with Katy Tur on MSNBC this afternoon to discuss the Respect for Marriage Act. This bill would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and ensure critical protections for same-sex and interracial marriages.
Click here to watch the full interview, and find excerpts of Rep. Pocan’s remarks below.
“Based on their debate, I couldn’t tell what they were for or against. They said this bill wasn’t necessary. I would certainly argue with that. I want my husband to be able to visit me if I have to go back to the hospital. And I want to be able to make sure that he gets my earned benefits of social security and retirement, etc. But they seem to ignore that… Although some members, Chip Roy, for example, did argue against the law of the land, which is that same-sex couples and interracial couples can be married. And that’s what the vote is about today. So we’ll see how many ultra extremists there are in Congress in a little bit.”
“Almost five years ago, I had open heart surgery. I had a triple bypass. My heart was literally taken outside of my body. I’m glad that my husband was there for me, and that he was able to visit me. But for someone to want to take that away, that’s a pretty sick position. And I think very out of the mainstream of where the American people are at… Now that we know we have an extremist-packed Supreme Court, that’s turning over law that’s been nearly a half-century when it comes to something like Roe, I think everything is at risk, especially when Clarence Thomas wrote it in the decision… That’s why House Democrats put this bill on the floor today.”
“They’ve worked for decades to get to the point to be able to do this. And now that we know they’ll take these actions, and Clarence Thomas will put these in writing and we have members of the House and Senate who are now saying they disagree with that [Obergefell] decision, you’re literally going to take away from a half a million Americans who are married in a same-sex couple their rights as a married couple… These days, the Republican Party acts more like a cult than a political party. And because of that, we have to do things that might seem like no brainers and common sense, now have to be put into law in order to protect people.”
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