Senate passes Respect for Marriage Act with bipartisan support
The Senate passed the Respect for Marriage Act that codifies gay and interracial marriage in a bipartisan vote.
Before the vote, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said:
Millions of same-sex married Americans go through their day with this terrible question lurking in the back of their minds. It is a chilling but necessary acknowledgment that despite all the progress we have made, the constitutional right to same-sex marriage is not even ten years old and only exists by virtue of a narrow Supreme Court ruling 5- 4. And we all know that the court has changed since that decision.
As we have already seen this year, what the court has decided in the past can easily be reversed in the future.
Today’s vote is therefore deeply personal for many of us in this House. It’s personal to me of course, it’s personal to many of my colleagues and their staff and their families. And while we still have a few votes left to take, today is certainly an occasion for joy and relief.
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I want to thank the senators who have brought us this far: Senators Sinema and Baldwin, and Collins, Tillis and Portman for their outstanding and hard work. Their work has been magnificent, and I’m so grateful that they stayed the course even when success seemed elusive.
And of course, I want to thank all of the advocates, volunteers, and organizers not only for supporting this bill, but for all they have done over the years to make the United States a fairer and more tolerant of LGBTQ Americans.
The bill’s passage was bipartisan, but it should be remembered that a majority of Senate Republicans deemed the legislation unnecessary because they said the Supreme Court would never strike down same-sex marriage. Republicans also said the same thing about women’s health rights, and we all know what happened to Roe.
The bill now returns to the House for final passage this week, then it will be sent to the White House to be signed into law by President Biden.
With this vote, millions of Americans are taking a step closer to protecting the fundamental right to marriage.
ledge my fellow Republicans who voted to advance this legislation. Through our work together, the rights of tens of millions of Americans will be strengthened under federal law. It is an achievement of which we should all be proud.
And of course, I want to thank all of the advocates, volunteers, and organizers not only for supporting this bill, but for all they have done over the years to make the United States a fairer and more tolerant of LGBTQ Americans.
Jason is the editor. He is also a member of the White House press pool and a congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason holds a bachelor’s degree in political science. His graduate studies focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and the American Political Science Association
