Respect for same-sex Marriage Act was approved by the House by a vote of 267-157, but its fate in Senate remains questionable.
The US House passed legislation to protect same-sex marriage across the country. The bill will also secure and strengthen other marriage-equality protections such as interracial marriages.
On July 19, the US House of Representatives passed the legislation by a vote of 267-157, with 47 Republicans joining the Democrats in their support.
The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and access to abortion raised concerns that other rights that many conservative Americans had condemned would also be in jeopardy.
The Respect for Marriage Act, which calls for the repeal of the Defence of Marriage Act, won’t pass easily because of the equally divided Senate.
In June, the US Supreme Court removed the protections provided by the Constitution for women’s right to an abortion.
In a concurring statement, conservative Justice Clarence Thomas said that rulings on contraception and marital equality should also be reexamined.
Marriage is defined as the union of one man and one woman under the 1996 Defence of Marriage Act, which grants states the right to reject same-sex unions recognized by the laws of other states. The Respect for Marriage Act states that a marriage is recognized as legal under federal law if it was recognized in the state in which it was consummated.
The Respect for Marriage Act, which calls for the repeal of the Defence of Marriage Act, won’t pass easily because of the equally divided Senate.
According to the Respect for Marriage Act, a marriage is valid under federal law if it was permitted in the state where it was consummated. The proposed legislation would specifically forbid anybody from refusing “full faith and credit” to an out-of-state marriage on the grounds of sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin, regardless of the laws of any particular state. It would provide the US attorney general with the power to bring civil lawsuits to enforce that regulation.
“Imagine telling the next generation of Americans, my generation, we no longer have the right to marry,” said Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y., an openly gay member of the US House. “Congress can’t allow that to happen.”
In support of codifying same-sex unions, President Joe Biden referred to the Defense of Marriage Act as an “unconstitutional and discriminatory law.”
“Justice Thomas is on a mission, he has declared war on all of these fundamental rights and the doctrine of substantive due process upon which those rights depend,” said Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., a co-chair of the House LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus who is also a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
The law received the support of all Democrats and 47 Republicans, but its fate in the Senate, where victory needs at least 10 Republican votes, is questionable.
The law needs to clear the Senate, where the parties are evenly divided and 60 votes are needed to pass most legislation, in order to reach President Joe Biden’s desk. The chamber’s conservative members will likely argue that each state should set its own same-sex marriage legislation.
