Here Are the 29 Representatives Who Changed Their Minds About Marriage
There are, in total, 29 U.S. Senators and Representatives who changed their positions regarding same-sex marriage since it was first voted on in 1996. Of those 29 politicians who no longer support DOMA, 24 signed an anti-DOMA amicus brief earlier this year. Still in office are 43 members of Congress who supported DOMA and continue to do so, as well as 31 politicians who always opposed the measure.
Voted for DOMA, Signed Anti-DOMA Brief
24 of the Representatives also supported an amicus brief that aimed to repeal DOMA. This includes 23 Democrats and one lone Republican from Florida—now a prominent gay rights and transgender advocate.
- Representative Robert Andrews, Democrat, New Jersey
- Representative Earl Blumenauer, Democrat, Oregon
- Representative Corrine Brown, Democrat, Florida
- Representative Jim Clyburn, Democrat, South Carolina
- Representative Elijah Cummings, Democrat, Maryland
- Representative Rosa DeLauro, Democrat, Connecticut
- Representative John Dingell, Democrat, Michigan
- Representative Lloyd Doggett, Democrat, Texas
- Representative Mike Doyle, Democrat, Pennsylvania
- Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat, Iowa
- Representative Steny Hoyer, Democrat, Maryland
- Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, Democrat, Texas
- Representative Marcy Kaptur, Democrat, Ohio
- Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat, Vermont
- Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Republican, Florida
- Representative Sandy Levin, Democrat, Michigan
- Representative Nita M. Lowey, Democrat, New York
- Senator Barbara Mikulski, Democrat, Maryland
- Senator Patty Murray, Democrat, Washington
- Representative Richard Neal, Democrat, Massachusetts
- Representative Ed Pastor, Democrat, Arizona
- Senator Harry Reid, Democrat, Nevada
- Representative Bobby Rush, Democrat, Illinois
- Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat, New York
Voted for DOMA, Subsequently Supported Same-Sex Marriage
Four Senators and one Representatives have since changed their positions regarding gay marriage since voting to support DOMA in 1996.
- Senator Max Baucus, Democrat, Montana
- Senator Carl Levin, Democrat, Michigan
- Senator John McCain, Republican, Arizona
- Senator John 'Jay' Rockefeller, Democrat, West Virginia
- Representative Pete Visclosky, Democrat, Indiana
Voted Against DOMA, Continue to Oppose DOMA
These 31 politicians voted against DOMA in 1996 and continue to oppose the measure. All are Democrats, with four Senators and 27 Representatives in the set.
- Representative Xavier Becerra, Democrat, California
- Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat, California
- Representative John Conyers, Democrat, Michigan
- Representative Peter DeFazio, Democrat, Oregon
- Representative Eliot Engel, Democrat, New York
- Representative Anna Eshoo, Democrat, California
- Representative Sam Farr, Democrat, California
- Representative Chaka Fattah, Democrat, Pennsylvania
- Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat, California
- Representative Luis Gutierrez, Democrat, Illinois
- Representative Alcee Hastings, Democrat, Florida
- Representative John Lewis, Democrat, Georgia
- Representative Zoe Lofgren, Democrat, California
- Representative Carolyn Maloney, Democrat, New York
- Representative Edward Markey, Democrat, Massachusetts
- Representative George Miller, Democrat, California
- Representative Jim McDermott, Democrat, Washington
- Representative Jim Moran, Democrat, Virginia
- Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat, New York
- Representative Frank Pallone, Democrat, New Jersey
- Representative Nancy Pelosi, Democrat, California
- Representative Charles Rangel, Democrat, New York
- Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard, Democrat, California
- Senator Bernie Sanders, Independent, Vermont
- Representative Bobby Scott, Democrat, Virginia
- Representative Jose Serrano, Democrat, New York
- Representative Louise Slaughter, Democrat, New York
- Representative Nydia Velazquez, Democrat, New York
- Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat, California
- Representative Henry Waxman, Democrat, California
- Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat, Oregon
Voted to Support DOMA, Still Supports DOMA
There are 43 politicians in office who supported DOMA in 1996 and continue to support DOMA today.
- Representative Spencer Bachus, Republican, Alabama
- Representative Linus Barton, Republican, Texas
- Representative Sanford Bishop, Republican, Georgia
- Representative John Boehner, Republican, Ohio
- Representative Ken Calvert, Republican, California
- Representative Dave Camp, Republican, Michigan
- Representative Steve Chabot, Republican, Ohio
- Representative Howard Coble, Republican, North Carolina
- Senator Thad Cochran, Republican, Mississippi
- Representative Jimmy Duncan, Republican, Tennessee
- Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen, Republican, New Jersey
- Senator Chuck Grassley, Republican, Iowa
- Representative Gene Green, Democrat, Texas
- Representative Bob Goodlatte, Republican, Virginia
- Representative Richard 'Doc' Hastings, Republican, Washington
- Senator Jim Inhofe, Republican, Oklahoma
- Senator Orrin Hatch, Republican, Utah
- Representative Moody Hall, Republican, Texas
- Representative Thomas Latham, Republican, Iowa
- Representative Frank Lucas, Republican, Oklahoma
- Representative Frank LoBiondo, Republican, New Jersey
- Representative Sam Johnson, Republican, Texas
- Representative Walter Jones, Republican, North Carolina
- Representative Pete King, Republican, New York
- Representative Jack Kingston, Republican, Georgia
- Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican, Kentucky
- Representative Howard 'Buck' McKeon, Republican, California
- Representative John Mica, Republican, Florida
- Representative Collin Peterson, Democrat/Farmer/Labor, Minnesota
- Representative Nick Joe Rahall, Democrat, West Virginia
- Representative Thomas Petri, Republican, Wisconsin
- Representative Hal Rogers, Republican, Kentucky
- Representative Dana Rohrabacher, Republican, California
- Representative Ed Royce, Republican, California
- Representative Jim Sensenbrenner, Republican, Wisconsin
- Senator Richard Shelby, Republican, Alabama
- Representative Chris Smith, Republican, New Jersey
- Representative Lamar Smith, Republican, Texas
- Representative William Thornberry, Republican, Texas
- Representative Fred Upton, Republican, Michigan
- Representative Ed Whitfield, Republican, Kentucky
- Representative Frank Wolf, Republican, Virginia
- Representative Don Young, Republican, Alaska
[images via Getty]