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Dem-Controlled House Passes Measure Codifying Same-Sex Marriage With Some GOP Support

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


The Democrat-controlled House has paved the way for a new measure that will codify same-sex marriage into law once it reaches President Biden’s desk. The Respect for Marriage Act repeals the Defense of Marriage Act over the objections of most Republican lawmakers who say the new law will infringe on religious rights.

The measure passed 258-169, with 39 Republicans supporting it, and will represent one of the last major pieces of legislation to make it out of the House before Democrats hand over control of the chamber to Republicans in January after the GOP won a majority during the November midterms. The National Defense Authorization Act, the annual defense spending bill, and an omnibus government funding measure, are reportedly in the legislative pipeline as well before the House recesses for the holidays.

The Defense of Marriage Act legally recognized marriage as being between a man and a woman and gave states the power to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages for legal purposes from other states.

The Daily Wire notes:

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The bill would not force states to allow same-sex couples to marry under the Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision. It would, however, make it so that any “person acting under color of State law” fully recognizes marriage between two people in another state and that the federal government must recognize marriages if they were valid in the state where the marriage occurred.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said when the lower chamber passed a previous bill version, “it is critical to ensure that federal law protects those whose constitutional rights might be threatened by Republican-controlled state legislatures.”

“LGBTQ Americans and those in interracial marriages deserve to have certainty that they will continue to have their right to equal marriage recognized, no matter where they live,” Hoyer noted.

Last week, the Senate managed to overcome the 60-vote filibuster and pass the legislation on a vote of 61-36, with most Republicans in the chamber again voicing concerns that the bill will impact First Amendment-protected religious freedoms and choice.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) called on GOP colleagues to push for a provision of the bill that specifically protects the religious rights of Americans who believe marriage is only between a man and a woman. He also introduced a provision “prohibiting federal bureaucrats from discriminating against individuals, organizations, and other religious entities by stripping away tax-exempt status, licenses, contracts, or other benefits,” the Daily Wire noted.

“Instead of subjecting churches, religious nonprofits, and persons of conscience to undue scrutiny or punishment by the federal government because of their views on marriage, we should make explicitly clear that this legislation does not constitute a national policy endorsing a particular view of marriage that threatens the tax-exempt status of faith-based nonprofits,” he wrote. “As we move forward, let us be sure to keep churches, religious charities, and religious universities out of litigation in the first instance.”

His Utah colleague, moderate GOP Sen. Mitt Romney, voted for the bill and claimed it would not impact religious freedoms.

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“This legislation provides important protections for religious liberty — measures which are particularly important to protect the religious freedoms of our faith-based institutions,” Romney noted in a statement. “While I believe in traditional marriage, Obergefell is and has been the law of the land upon which LGBTQ individuals have relied. This legislation provides certainty to many LGBTQ Americans, and it signals that Congress — and I — esteem and love all of our fellow Americans equally.”

Biden has said he will sign the law when it reaches his desk.

The legislation gained momentum after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas suggested earlier this year that justices may be looking at changing a previous case recognizing same-sex marriages.

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In his concurring opinion with the ruling in June overturning Roe v. Wade and sending the issue back to states, Thomas indicated that the court should revisit several key rulings that are politically charged. Thomas wrote that “in future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell.”

“Because any substantive due process decision is ‘demonstrably erroneous,’ […] we have a duty to ‘correct the error’ established in those precedents,” he continued.

Thomas appeared to suggest the Supreme Court should reconsider contraception and gay marriage rulings.

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