Schumer vows to protect same-sex marriage after Texas judge says employers can deny coverage for HIV drugs

A judge’s ruling that employers can deny access to HIV prevention drugs shows the Senate must vote to protect same sex marriage rights, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday.

The House passed the Respect for Marriage Act authored by Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) in July, a month after the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade precedent that granted the right to an abortion. In agreeing with that ruling Justice Clarence Thomas wrote other rulings such as in the case that legalized gay marriage should also be reexamined.

Schumer had already promised to vote on Nadler’s bill “in coming weeks,” but doubled down after a Texas judge appointed by former President Trump ruled employers should not be forced to cover drugs that prevent HIV infection. That violates a company owners’ religious beliefs “by making them complicit in facilitating homosexual behavior” and extramarital sex, federal Judge Reed O’Connor ruled.

“The Senate has a responsibility now to act,” Schumer said. “Because of this threat, the Senate will hold a vote on the Respect for Marriage Act in the coming weeks so that no American is discriminated against because of whom they love.”

While a quarter of Republicans in the House voted in favor of the Respect for Marriage Act, a similar percentage has not stepped forward in the Senate, where at least 10 of the upper chamber’s 50 Republicans would be needed to pass the bill.

As further evidence of a threat to marriage rights, Schumer pointed to the Texas Republican Party’s official platform, which earlier this year condemned homosexuality.

“This isn’t pie in the sky,” Schumer said. “The largest Republican state in the country, its Republican Party, captured by MAGA fervor, absurd fervor, said ‘homosexuality is an abnormal lifestyle choice.’”