It’s almost official: The Respect for Marriage Act is one step away from becoming law.
The House voted to pass the legislation on Thursday to protect same-sex and interracial marriage in a 258 to 169 vote, with 39 Republicans and all Democrats voting in favor. Now, having passed in both the House and the Senate, it’s headed to President Biden, who will almost certainly sign the bill into law.
“For millions of Americans, this legislation will safeguard the rights and protections to which LGBTQI+ and interracial couples and their children are entitled,” Biden said in a statement about the bill last week. “I look forward to welcoming them at the White House after the House passes this legislation and sends it to my desk, where I will promptly and proudly sign it into law.”
The status of same-sex marriage in America has been in question since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, after which Justice Clarence Thomas explicitly suggested revisiting the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. If the Respect for Marriage Act becomes law, even in the event that Obergefell v. Hodges is overturned and some states reinstate their bans on same-sex marriage, those states would still have to recognize same-sex marriages performed legally in other states.
Passing this legislation will be one of Nancy Pelosi’s final acts as speaker of the House, a fact she said she was very happy about in a recent op-ed for the Washington Post.
“Just as I began my career fighting for LGBTQ communities, I am overjoyed that one of the final bills I will sign as speaker will be the Respect for Marriage Act: ensuring the federal government will never again stand in the way of marrying the person you love,” she wrote.
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