The Senate’s procedural vote to advance the Respect for Marriage Act is “a bad deal for the many courageous Americans of faith and no faith who continue to believe and uphold the truth about marriage in the public square today,” said Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, chairman of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Religious Liberty.

“In any context in which conflicts between religious beliefs and same-sex civil marriage arise, the Act will be used as evidence that religious believers must surrender to the state’s interest in recognizing same-sex civil marriages,” he added. “Wedding cake bakers, faith-based adoption and foster care providers, religious employers seeking to maintain their faith identity, faith-based housing agencies – are all at greater risk of discrimination under this legislation.”