CNS Sends Interns To Pester Senators With Loaded Question On Gay Marriage

We’ve moved into the part of CNSNews.com’s coverage of the Respect for Marriage Act where it sends its interns out to Capitol Hill to ask politicians loaded questions on the issue.  And that’s what fall interns Lauren Shank and Peyton Holliday got stuck doing — and even Republicans have gotten wise to the gotcha, as a Nov, 30 article by Holliday illustrated:

When CNSNews.com asked Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R.-Wyo.) on Tuesday whether a baby has a right to a mother – in light of the Senate then debating a bill to codify same-sex marriage into federal law – Lummis (R-Wyo.) declined to answer the question and said she did not like where she thought the question was going.

Later that day, Lummis joined with 11 other Republican senators and 49 Democrats in voting for the Respect for Marriage Act, which passed 61-36 (with 3 senators not voting).

At the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 29, CNS News.com asked Sen. Lummis: “The Respect for Marriage Act recognizes a right to same-sex marriage. So, does a baby have a right to a mother?”

Senator Lummis answered: “I don’t know where you’re going with this but I don’t like it.”

As for supporting the pro-same-sex marriage bill, Lummis told HuffPost, “The concern that people have expressed to me is that my views run counter to God’s definition of marriage. And I’ve tried to distinguish the fact that I support God’s definition of marriage but now there’s a second definition of marriage―it is secular and established by the [Supreme Court’s] Obergefell decision―and it deserves respect, too.”

She added, “I hope that message will resonate. So far it’s been a tough sell.”

The article’s headline in the screenshot is the original; it was later changed to the more boring “Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis Won’t Say If a Baby Has a Right to a Mother” without an explanation to readers.

Another Republican senator had a similar reaction, even though he voted against the bill:

When asked whether a baby has a right to a mother, Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kans.), an OB/GYN who has delivered more than 5,000 babies, said he did not “understand the question,” and added, “It sounds too technical.”

At the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 30, CNS News asked Marshall, “The Respect for Marriage Act, which passed the Senate yesterday, recognizes the right to same-sex marriage – I’m with CNS News. So, does a baby have a right to a mother?”

Sen. Marshall replied, “I guess I didn’t understand the question.”

CNS News then said, “Well, the question of – so, if we have same-sex marriage now legalized, so that means some children will be without a mother. So, do children have a right to a mother?”

Marshall replied, “Gosh, I just don’t get the question. I hear what you’re asking, but I don’t – I don’t get it.”

CNS News then said, “Okay. Well, just like, a baby – each baby has a right to a mother and a father, correct?”

Marshall said, “Yeah, I – I think I’m just going to pass on this. It sounds too technical, but thank you for asking.”

The interns did ask two other Republican senators — Tommy Tuberville and James Lankford — who fully understood the virtue-signaling opportunity they were being handed and gave the answers their political ideology demanded (which was yes). No Democratic senators were ambushed with the question, even though part of the point of this exercise is to use those gotcha questions to make them look bad.

Shank followed this exercise with a Dec. 2 article repeating criticism of the bill from right-wing senators and activists, some of whom trashed the Republicans who supported it:

Conservatives are worried about the future of religious liberty, for individuals and institutions, since the Senate passed the Respect for Marriage Act by a vote of 61-36 —  legislation that President Joe Biden has indicated he will sign into law.

[…]

“Twelve spineless, useless, weak, old, nasty cowards who call themselves Republican, as if that means anything anymore – voted (yea) because they were too scared of what they might be called: homophobic,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales said in a video.

Fro good measure, Shank included a screenshot of a 2016 tweet from then-Vice President Biden showing him officiating at a same-sex marriage ceremony.