U.S. Senate passes bill to protect same-sex and interracial marriage

The US Senate has passed the Respect for Marriage Act, a legislation to protect same-sex and interracial unions.

The final vote was 61-36. The bill was supported by all members of the Democratic caucus and 12 Republicans.

Democrats are hurrying to get the bill to Biden to be signed into law before Republicans take over the House next year. It is expected to pass as soon as December 6.

“For millions of Americans, this legislation will safeguard the rights and protections to which LGBTQI+ and interracial couples and their children are entitled,” Biden said in a statement.

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.

So, in the event the Supreme Court overturns its 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision that legalized same-sex marriage, a state could still pass a law to ban same-sex marriage, but that state would be required to recognize a same-sex marriage from another state.

The justices voted 5-4 to declare same-sex marriage a constitutional right in 2015, after a man named Jim Obergefell brought suit in Ohio in order to be recognized as the surviving spouse of his deceased partner.

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The Supreme Court's decision to end the nationwide right to abortion (Roe v. Wade) sparked speculation, even by President Biden, that other landmark rulings could be on shakier ground, including those that legalized same-sex marriage.

"Roe recognized a fundamental right to privacy that has served as the basis for so many more rights that we have come to take for granted," Biden said at the White House after the court struck down Roe v. Wade.

In a 78-page opinion, associate justice of the Supreme Court Samuel Alito, stated that the legal logic at the heart of the conservatives' decision to overturn Roe v. Wade would not apply to other cases.

"To ensure that our decision is not misunderstood or mischaracterized, we emphasize that our decision concerns the constitutional right to abortion and no other right," he wrote.

However, Justice Clarence Thomas suggested otherwise, saying other rulings should be “reconsidered”, including Obergefell, Griswold and Lawrence: court rulings that protect contraception, same-sex relationships, and same-sex marriage.

Griswold v. Connecticut first established the right to use birth control in 1965. The Griswold case concerned a nearly century-old Connecticut law banning the use of all forms of contraception.

Image: Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition/Unsplash

The challenge was brought by Estelle Griswold, the executive director of the Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut, after her arrest for opening a location in New Haven.

In a 7-2 vote, the justices ruled that marital privacy is in fact protected against state bans on contraceptives, and helped establish the idea that privacy is a constitutional right, even though the Constitution does not explicitly guarantee it.

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One night in 1998, police were called to the home of John Lawrence, a gay man. Police entered his unlocked apartment, where an officer said he saw him having consensual sex with another man. Under a Texas law that banned gay relationships, Lawrence and his partner were arrested.

In a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court voted to strike down the Texas law, overturning a previous decision from 1986 that had reached the opposite conclusion. Among those dissenting was Justice Clarence Thomas.