Cruz has introduced a State Marriage Defense Act in Congress. | John Shinkle/POLITICO Cruz: W.H. 'hostile' to marriage

Sen. Ted Cruz says President Barack Obama’s administration is “hostile” to traditional marriage, calling it the most hostile White House in history.

The Texas Republican has been plugging his State Marriage Defense Act, a bill he introduced with Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) to require the federal government to respect state laws defining marriage between a man and a woman, on a tour of conservative radio. On Monday, Cruz told David Barton and Rick Green’s “Wallbuilders Live” that there’s been a “sad trend” in recent years of advocacy groups using courts to challenge traditional marriage laws.


“But it’s also manifested from the federal government, with the Obama administration,” Cruz said. “This administration is the most hostile-to-traditional-marriage administration this country has ever seen.”

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Cruz cited the administration’s decision to recognize same-sex marriages performed in Utah before a Supreme Court order halted gay marriage in the state once more.

“The administration has been using the authority of the federal government to try to force states, to force federal recognition of marriages that state law prohibits,” Cruz said. “The Obama administration came into Utah and said, ‘We’re not going to listen to what the U.S. Supreme Court said. We, the federal government, are going to recognize marriages in the state of Utah and Utah state law explicitly does not recognize as marriage’ and that was really, in my view, an abuse of power.