2 SC GOP Lawmakers Aim to Undo Same-Sex Marriage

They keep trying.

A pair of Republican lawmakers in South Carolina have pre-filed a bill in the state's House of Representatives aimed to define marriage as between one man and a woman, as well as invalidating existing same-sex marriages, GoUpState reports.

The bill, titled the "South Carolina Natural Marriage Defense Act," which was pre-filed by Rep. Bill Chumley, R-Woodruff, with the support of his fellow Republican colleague Rep. Mike Burns, R-Taylors, also proposes the state's Attorney General represent state officials in lawsuits relating to same-sex marriage.

"I represent the people, and the people have shown several times that they are opposed to this, and are in favor of traditional marriage," Chumley said, adding that in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges that legalized national same-sex marriage by a 5 to 4 vote, "Apparently, those four people believe like we do."

The proposed bill has been balked at by University of South Carolina law professor Derek Black, who said: "States may challenge those federal laws and Constitutional interpretations in court. But at this point, the courts have spoken on this particular issue."

Chumley is no stranger to far right wing rhetoric. Wikipedia notes that in the aftermath of the Charleston church shooting in 2015, Chumley said he would not vote to remove the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the South Carolina State House. In a broadcast statement on CNN, he observed, "These people sat in there and waited their turn to be shot, that's sad. Somebody in there with a means of self-defense could've stopped this."