Heritage Foundation launches $1 million ad campaign against same-sex marriage bill

The Heritage Foundation will launch a $1 million ad campaign against the Respect for Marriage Act ahead of Monday's Senate vote on the legislation.

Ads from the group will run during NFL and college football games over Thanksgiving weekend, per the Washington Times. The group is seeking revisions to the legislation to bolster protections for religious liberty. 

The Senate last week advanced the proposal by a vote of 62-37, indicating the bill likely has enough Republican support to overcome the 60-vote filibuster threshold. A bipartisan group of senators announced the compromise bill earlier last week which would not require states to legalize same-sex marriage, but rather to recognize lawful marriages from other states. It would, moreover, enshrine certain freedom of conscience protections objecting to the practice into federal law.

Heritage, however, contends that the religious liberty provisions in the bill are too weak and would lead to the suppression of groups that advocate for traditional marriage. 

"This legislation does not add one additional benefit to same-sex couples in the United States; it's an attack that sets the stage to take rights away from people of faith," Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts told Fox News.

Same-sex marriage is already legal in all 50 states and has been since the Supreme Court ruled it a constitutional right. Advocates of the LGBT movement, however, are scared the the Supreme Court could overturn that ruling after it upended the 50-year-old abortion rights precedent set in Roe v. Wade earlier this year.

Associate Justice Clarence Thomas later made comments suggesting the judicial body could revisit some of its landmark civil rights cases, prompting House progressives to push a bill to codify same-sex marriage into law. The current Senate bill would require another vote from the House as it deviates significantly from the legislation the lower chamber passed in July.