On Thursday, the House passed the Respect for Marriage Act, which will codify same-sex marriage and require the federal government to recognize gay marriage. But many Democrats say the bill does not go far enough as they want more than just a safety net if the Supreme Court reverses same-sex marriage. The bill won approval in a 258-169 vote, after the Senate passed it 61-36 last week. Republicans have warned that it doesn’t do enough to protect religious liberty.
“This legislation is the latest step in House Democrats’ fight to win full equality for LGBTQ Americans and forge a more perfect union that our children, and their children… all of our children deserve,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said on Thursday.
“I find it deeply poignant, that as we prepare to bring the 117th Congress to a close, we are on the cusp of a great bipartisan moral victory in defense of a fundamental right of all Americans, a victory that will provide stability and reassurance to the millions of LGBTQ and interracial families that have come to rely on the constitutional right to marry,” added Jerry Nadler.
According to Fox:
The Respect for Marriage Act was whipped up by Democrats in the Senate after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas issued a concurring opinion in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade. Thomas said that in light of the decision to let states decide abortion, the court should also “reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents,” including the Obergefell v. Hodges case that took same-sex marriage out of the hands of states and said it is a right guaranteed by the Constitution.
The Respect for Marriage Act says the federal government will recognize same-sex marriages performed in states where they are legal, and includes a similar protection for interracial couples should the Supreme Court overturn a decision on that issue, Loving v. Virginia, that bans states from outlawing these marriages.
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