WASHINGTON—The U.S. Senate is expected to vote Wednesday on the deceptively named “Respect for Marriage Act.” Roger Severino, vice president of domestic policy at The Heritage Foundation, released the following statement Tuesday ahead of the vote on this unnecessary and harmful legislation that will target Americans with a particular religious belief: 

“No American should face legal threats for holding sincere religious beliefs or convictions. However, the Senate is threatening to empower woke activists inside and outside of government to attack people of faith with this bill that will be used as a cudgel against those who believe in the reality of marriage as between a man and a woman. This bill provides no benefit or protection that same-sex couples don’t already have. All this bill does is target people of faith who don’t support woke ideology.

“This bill puts a giant target on the back of individuals, nonprofit organizations, adoption agencies, schools, and businesses that hold fast to the truth about marriage. Don’t be fooled by lawmakers who claim recent amendments address these religious liberty concerns—they do not. Sen. Mike Lee has proposed a robust religious liberty amendment that would provide real protection for religious liberty and could address some of this bill’s massive problems. 

“Americans were told that same-sex marriage was about live and let live, yet now liberals are going out of their way to undermine the religious freedom of millions of Americans. No matter how the left spins this, this legislation sets a national policy for same-sex marriage that would declare open season on people of faith. Americans deserve to have their First Amendment rights protected, not attacked.”