Photo: Courtesy of Governor Charlie Baker's office.
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — The Respect for Marriage Act, a bill to preserve same-sex marriage rights at the federal level, is gaining traction in the Commonwealth as Governor Charlie Baker and Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito join the chorus of voices calling for its approval in the United States Senate.
On Wednesday, the governor's office shared a paid advertisement from Centerline Action and Conservatives Against Discrimination that lists Republicans, Libertarians and Independent Conservatives who are in favor of the bill.
"We stand with the 71 percent of Americans today, including a majority of registered Republicans, who support the freedom to marry for all Americans," the letter read, "we call on the U.S. Senate to pass the Respect for Marriage Act and reaffirm that marriage for gay and lesbian couples is settled law."
The letter's statistic on the percent of Americans supporting same-sex marriage comes from a May 2022 Gallup poll.
The reasoning for the bill, lawmakers say, comes after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, when Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas alluded that potentially the same could be done for same-sex marriage.
"Codifying same-sex marriage is important to me for a number of reasons, the first reason is I happen to have a brother that's married. I think there are a lot of people all over this country, tens of millions of them, who made a decision to marry the person they love based on court decisions in regard to this," Baker said.
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Other signatures on the list included former Governor Jane Swift and former U.S. Senator Scott Brown.
WBZ's Nichole Davis (@NicholeDWBZ) reports.
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