Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg took a personal tone in his criticism of Republicans opposed to codifying federal protections for same-sex marriage Sunday, saying marriages like his deserve to be safeguarded.
The secretary, who is openly gay, recounted meeting with House Republicans on unrelated matters last Tuesday, the day they voted on the bill.
“I don’t understand how such a majority of House Republicans voted no on (my) marriage … hours after I was in a room with a lot of them talking about transportation policy,” Buttigieg told CNN’s “State of the Union.”
He said he had been “having what I thought were perfectly normal conversations with many of them on that subject, only for them to go around the corner and say that my marriage doesn’t deserve to continue.”
Legislation recognizing same-sex marriage at the federal level passed the House with support from 47 Republicans, with most GOP members opposing it.
The measure was prompted by the recent Supreme Court ruling that abortion is not a constitutional right, a decision that has raised concerns that LGBTQ marriages could be targeted next.
The fate of the bill remains up in the air as some Senate Republicans have voiced their opposition.
Its opponents include Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who last week called the bill “a stupid waste of time.”
Buttigieg took issue with the conservative senator’s recent attacks on Disney for opposing Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law.
“If he’s got time to fight against Disney, I don’t see why he wouldn’t have time to help safeguard marriages like mine,” said Buttigieg.
“If they don’t want to spend a lot of time on this, they can vote yes and move on, and that would be really reassuring for a lot of families around America, including mine,” he added.
In a separate interview, Rep. Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, expressed remorse over her previous opposition to same-sex marriage.
“Freedom means freedom for everybody,” the congresswoman, whose sister is a lesbian, told CNN. “My initial opposition 10 years ago to same-sex marriage was wrong.”
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