same-sex marriage
The right to same-sex marriage must be enshrined in federal law.
(Photo: dpa)
Washington In the United States, the right to same-sex marriage may soon be protected by federal law. The US Senate voted Tuesday night (local time) with a bipartisan majority of 61 to 36 for a corresponding bill. The Chamber of Deputies still needs to vote on the bill, which also protects marriages between people of different ethnicities.
However, the approval of the House of Congress is considered certain, because there the Democrats of US President Joe Biden still have a narrow majority. Passage of the bill, which didn’t stand much of a chance in the Senate this summer, would be a historic step.
Same-sex marriage was legalized in the United States by a 2015 Supreme Court decision (known as Obergefell v. Hodges). It declared unconstitutional a 1996 law that established marriage as an alliance between a man and a woman.
However, concerns were raised this year when the Supreme Court’s right-wing majority overturned the Supreme Court’s decision on abortion rights, dating back to the 1970s. between people of the same sex in a series of judgments that the court must reconsider.
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If the court overturns the 2015 decision and there is no federal legislation, states can refuse to recognize same-sex marriage. Federal law would not force any US state to allow same-sex couples to marry. But it would require states to recognize all marriages legally contracted elsewhere. It also protects existing same-sex marriages. The same applies to marriage between people of different ethnicities.
US Senate strengthens same-sex marriage law
With the vote, the United States is on the verge of asserting a fundamental truth, said US President Biden. “Love is love, and Americans should have the right to marry the person they love.”
House of Representatives must vote again
For years, lawmakers have tried to pass federal legislation that would establish the right to same-sex marriage, repealing the 1996 law once and for all. So far, they’ve always failed. Biden’s Democrats made another attempt in the summer – and the bill also passed the House of Representatives. But as there were changes in the text in the Senate, the draft now has to go through the other house of Congress again.
Democrats will have a majority in the House of Representatives by the end of the year. In the next legislature, Republicans will have narrow control of the House due to seat gains in the recent midterm elections. So Democrats need to hurry to pass important legislation. In the Senate vote, all the votes against it came from the Republicans – but at the same time, twelve Republicans voted with the Democrats for the law and thus brought the necessary votes.
A majority of the US population, polls show, support the right to same-sex marriage — as do most Republican supporters. The Senate should actually vote on the text of the law before congressional elections in early November. But that was postponed. For the Republicans, a pre-election vote was considered complicated, they didn’t want to take a stand. Many right-wing Republicans have recently placed particular emphasis on trans-hostile statements and have thus warmed the mood in the country.
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