The Senate passed the Respect For Marriage Act which codifies gay and interracial marriage in a bipartisan vote.
Before the vote Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said:
Millions of Americans in same-sex marriages go about their day with this terrible question lurking in the back of their minds. It’s a scary but necessary acknowledgment that despite all the progress we’ve made, the constitutional right to same-sex marriage is not even a decade old and exists only by the virtue of a narrow 5-4 Supreme Court decision. And we all know the court has changed since that decision.
As we have already seen this year, what the court has decided in the past can be easily taken away in the future.
So today’s vote is deeply personal for many of us in this chamber. It’s personal for me of course, it’s personal to many of my colleagues and their staff and their families. And while we still have a few more votes to take, today is certainly an occasion for joy and relief.
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I want to thank the Senators who brought us this far: Senators Sinema and Baldwin, as well as Collins and Tillis and Portman for their outstanding and relentless work. Their work has been magnificent, and I am so thankful they stayed the course even when success may have seemed elusive.
And of course, I want to thank all the advocates, volunteers, and organizers not just for supporting this bill, but for everything they’ve done over the years to make the United States a fairer, more accepting nation for LGBTQ Americans.
The passage of the bill was bipartisan, but it should not be overlooked that a majority of Senate Republicans deemed the legislation unnecessary because they said that the Supreme Court would never overturn same-sex marriage. Republicans also said the same thing about women’s healthcare rights, and we all know what happened to Roe.
The bill now heads back to the House for final passage this week, and then it will be sent to the White House to be signed into law by President Biden.
With this vote, millions of Americans are one step closer to seeing the fundamental right to marry protected.
ledge my Republican colleagues who voted in favor of advancing this legislation. Because of our work together, the rights of tens of millions of Americans will be strengthened under federal law. That’s an accomplishment we should all be proud of.
And of course, I want to thank all the advocates, volunteers, and organizers not just for supporting this bill, but for everything they’ve done over the years to make the United States a fairer, more accepting nation for LGBTQ Americans.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work 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
