The United States Senate this Tuesday approved a bill that protects same-sex marriage at the federal level, which will now return to the House of Representatives for a final vote. The goal of this initiative is to protect the right to equal marriage so that it is not overturned by the Supreme Court, as happened last June with the right to abortion.
The legislation calls for the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages if it is legal in the state where they were married, a legal principle that already applies to interracial marriages and has previously received support from Republican politicians. The draft law was 61 in favor and 36 against.
United States President Joe Biden this Tuesday celebrated the approval of a legislative initiative in the Senate that protects same-sex marriage at the federal level, for which he particularly emphasized that it has bipartisan support.
“It is important to note that the Respectful Marriage Act is a bipartisan achievement,” the president said in a statement, naming both Democratic and Republican senators who supported the bill.
“Together, Republicans and Democrats support the fundamental right of LGBTQI+ and interracial couples to marry,” Biden said, vowing to sign the bill into law once it reaches his office.
The text also recognizes religious freedom, preventing religious institutions such as churches from being forced to celebrate these weddings and losing benefits or tax exemptions for doing so. It also repeals the 1996 Marriage Protection Act, which defines it as a union between a man and a woman.
“The history of the United States has been one of difficult but irreversible moves toward greater equality,” Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday, warning that “the rights of all married couples will never be a reality. safe without adequate protection under federal law.”
The House of Representatives, with a progressive majority, approved the bill in July by a vote of 267 to 157. In the Senate, the Democratic majority needed the support of at least ten Republicans to pass it.
Once approved, the text must go back to the lower house, which must approve a new version that came out of the Senate before it reaches President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in the United States since June 2015, when the Supreme Court ruled laws banning it in some states unconstitutional.
Mobilization around protecting these unions has only recently increased since the Supreme Court, now controlled by a conservative majority, in June overturned the Roe v. Wade ruling that protected abortion access in the country for nearly half a century.
Since then, many activists and progressive politicians have warned of the possibility that the court will do the same with other rights, such as same-sex weddings, and return the power to states to decide whether to legalize them.
While the bill would not force all states to legalize gay marriage, it would require them to recognize the marriage in another state where it took place.
Source: El Diario
