Three days after joining the majority of Republican colleagues in voting against a House bill that would establish federal rights for same-sex marriage, Glenn Thompson, a Republican from Pennsylvania, attended his son’s wedding to his gay partner.
In an email he had sent last week to the regional newspaper the Centre Daily, Stone had referred to the Respect for Marriage Act as “nothing more than an election-year messaging stunt for Democrats in Congress who have failed to address historic inflation and out of control prices at gas pumps and grocery stores.”
Thompson‘s gay son told NBC News on Monday that he wed the love of his life on Friday and that his “father was present.” Maddison Stone, Thompson’s press secretary, also attested to the congressman’s presence. Despite voting against the Respect for Marriage Bill, Thompson and his wife were, “thrilled to attend and celebrate their son’s marriage on Friday night as he began this new chapter in his life,” Maddison Stone added in a statement to Newsweek on Tuesday. “The Thompsons are very happy to welcome their new son-in-law into their family.”
One hundred and seventy-five House Republicans opposed the bill on Tuesday, including Thompson, who represents the 15th congressional district of the state. However, following concerns that current same-sex marriage laws would be targeted by the conservative-leaning Supreme Court, 47 of his GOP colleagues joined Democrats to pass the bipartisan proposal.
The incongruity between his vote and attendance at his son’s wedding has sparked fury among his constituents and in social media, with many references to politicians’ hypocrisy being made. One NYT bestselling author, Steve Silberman, writing on Twitter: “GOP family values: votes against protecting marriage equality and then goes to his gay son’s wedding. Rep. Glenn Thompson’s son deserves a better father.”
Another writer, Skylar Baker-Johnson wrote: “Glenn Thompson’s son is a better man than I am, because if my father had voted against the Respect for Marriage Act three days before my wedding he would’ve been disinvited.”
