Watch: GOP Congressman Addresses Anti-Marriage Vote He Cast Days Before Gay Son's Wedding

Mere days before his own son married another man, Pennsylvania Rep. Glenn Thompson voted against the Respect for Marriage Act. He's finally addressed the national controversy it caused, telling local news station WJAC that it "surprised" him that an uproar resulted from the disconnect between voting against a measure that would protect his son's marriage and then attending the wedding, where he made a speech celebrating the union of the two men.

"I was surprised first of all that my personal family business became a national focus," Thompson told reporters from the news station who managed to catch up with him at this year's Cambria County Farm Bureau Legislative Farm Tour and ask him about it.

"It shows you what some people will do and how sad some people are with what they will politicize," Thompson said.

As previously reported, Thomas toasted his son and new son-in-law, telling wedding celebrants that parents hope their children "find their way, find opportunity, they find inspiration. And as they grow and as they get a little older, we also hope and pray they're going to find that one true love so that they have the opportunity to experience that: Someone to grow old with."

Though Thompson voted against it, the House of Representatives passed the Respect for Marriage Act last month by an overwhelming margin, and with bipartisan support.

The Respect for Marriage Act has not yet been brought up for a vote in the Senate, where its chances are seen as less certain. Some senators have already indicated that they would vote no if and when the bill comes to the Senate floor. Sen. Lindsey Graham declared during an Aug. 7 appearance on CNN's "State of the Union" that he would not support the measure, and attempted to shrug it off as mere political posturing.

"We're talking about things that are not happening because you don't want to talk about inflation," Graham said. "You don't want to talk about crime. This is all politics, my friends, instead of trying to solve problems..."

Graham suggested that the Supreme Court is not likely to snatch marriage equality away from same-sex families, before finally addressing the issue head-on: "But if you're going to ask me to have the federal government take over defining marriage, I'm going to say no."

The bill's approval by the House came after the U.S. Supreme Court rescinded the Constitutional right of women to seek an abortion, and Justice Clarence Thomas signaled an invitation for subsequent attacks on marriage equality, interracial marriage, the use of contraceptives by married couples, and other issues that have long been considered settled law following earlier Supreme Court rulings.

Thomas' indication that the Court would be willing to revisit those cases echoed an opinion he and fellow conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito authored in 2020 in which they excoriated Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 case that saw the Court strike down state laws denying marriage rights to same-sex couples.

Rep. Thompson parroted Graham's talking points when speaking to the news station, saying that the Respect for Marriage Act was an example of "political messaging bills, and the Democrats do those before the election, and that's exactly what that was all about."

To watch Thompson's remarks, follow this link.