On Tuesday, in a White House ceremony, President Biden will sign the Respect for Marriage Act into law, legitimising gay and interracial marriages in federal law.
The press secretary for the White House, Karine Jean-Pierre, characterised the event as a celebration on the South Lawn, with Vice President Kamala Harris, Democratic and Republican politicians, and “thousands” of people in attendance.
39 House Republicans joined House Democrats in backing the bill’s approval last week. After an amendment was added protecting religious liberty and conscience protections under federal law and ensuring that nonprofit religious groups would not be required to provide services, goods, or facilities to celebrate same-sex marriages, twelve Republicans voted for the legislation in the Senate.
Judy Kasen-Windsor, the widow of Edie Windsor, whose 2013 landmark case before the Supreme Court determined that legally married same-sex couples are entitled to the same federal benefits as heterosexual couples; Matthew Haynes, founding owner of Club Q, a Colorado Springs LGBTQ club where five people were killed this year; Club Q survivors James Slaugh and Michael Anderson; plaintiffs in the case that determined that legally married same-sex couples are entitled to the same federal benefits; the co-counsel in the case that legalized interracial marriage and a survivor of the Pulse nightclub shooting.
The president said in a statement after the law cleared the House that it will offer LGBTQI+ and interracial couples with peace of mind, especially after the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade.
“Congress has restored a measure of security to millions of marriages and families,” Mr. Biden said in a statement last week. “They have also provided hope and dignity to millions of young people across this country who can grow up knowing that their government will recognize and respect the families they build.”
The bill changes sections that officially define marriage as between just a man and a woman with measures that recognise any marriage “between two individuals that is valid under state law.” In addition, the measure compels states to recognise same-sex marriages performed in other states.
In 2015, the Supreme Court declared in Obergefell v. Hodges that same-sex couples had the constitutional right to marry. However, others fear that the Supreme Court’s June decision to overturn Roe v. Wade might open the way for Obergefell to be overturned as well. In 1967, the Supreme Court ruled that state laws prohibiting interracial marriage were unconstitutional.