The Senate on Tuesday passed a bill that would act as a fail-safe to protect the LGBTQ community should the Supreme Courts right-wing majority do to marriage equality what it did to abortion rights.
Some 61 Senators, including 12 Republicans, voted for the Respect for Marriage Act, which will give some measure of relief to activists who had feared that the top US court would reverse its own precedent on marriage equality.
This will give millions of loving couples the certainty, the dignity, and the respect that they need and that they deserve, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, the Wisconsin Democrat and first openly LGBTQ senator, said on Nov. 16 when the bill first came to the floor.
The bill had passed a key procedural hurdle in the Senate on Nov. 16 when a coalition of all 50 Democrats and 12 Republicans voted to overcome any filibuster. The bipartisan group leading the push in the chamber had decided in September to delay their efforts until after the midterm elections in order to try to ease some political pressure for potential backers.
The bill was also tweaked to make clear that it doesnt require the government to recognize polyamorous marriages, while also adding protections for religious institutions enough so that even the Mormon church expressed its support.
None of this precludes court fights on marriage going forward, Mary Bonauto, the civil rights project director at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, told BuzzFeed News. We will fight to prevent the unthinkable from happening, but this bill provides a crucial backstop requiring marriage recognition in the event that it does.
With Republicans set to narrowly assume control of the House of Representatives next year following this months midterms, the bill is likely to be one of the last bipartisan pieces of legislation that will pass in this Congress.
This version will still need to pass in the House before it is sent to President Joe Biden for his signature, but that outcome is expected.
I am incredibly encouraged to see this bill move forward with such strong bipartisan support, National Center for Lesbian Rights Legal Director Shannon Minter told BuzzFeed News. Once the RMA becomes law, the LGBTQ community can breathe a sigh of relief knowing their families are secure and the Supreme Court cannot upend their lives with the stroke of a pen.
All 220 Democratic members of the House were joined by 47 Republicans in passing their own version of the bill in July. One of the 157 Republicans who voted against that bill, Rep. Glenn Thompson of Pennsylvania, delivered a toast at his sons wedding to another man just three days later.