The Senate is set to vote Tuesday on the final passage of a bipartisan bill to protect same-sex and biracial marriage.
The push for the bill began after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, sparking fears that it could take away rights beyond abortion. Passing today’s bill will put Congress closer to ensuring that such unions are enshrined in federal law, reports the Washington Post.
On Monday night the Senate chamber reached an agreement to hold three amendment votes starting at 3:45 p.m. ET on Tuesday before a final passage vote.
The bill is expected to pass the Senate, reports CNN News. The House would then need to approve the legislation before sending it to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law.
While the bill would not set a national requirement that all states must legalize same-sex marriage, it would require individual states to recognize another state’s legal marriage.
What is important here is that Democrats are moving quickly, while the party still holds the majority in both chambers of Congress, and they are pushing to get the bill passed by the House and sent to President Joe Biden’s desk before the end of the year.
Another reason for the bipartisan effort to get the bill enshrined in federal law was comments by Justice Clarence Thomas at the time of the Roe v Wade decision that suggested same-sex marriage could also come under threat, according to the Associated Press.
The legislation would not codify the Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision that legalized gay marriage nationwide or force any state to allow same-sex couples to marry.
But it would require states to recognize all marriages that were legal where they were performed, as well as protecting current same-sex unions. It would also protect interracial marriages by requiring states to recognize legal marriages regardless of “sex, race, ethnicity, or national origin.”
