The Act mandates federal recognition for same-sex marriages as the proponents of the legislation argued that Congress needed to be proactive in ensuring a future Supreme Court would not invalidate same-sex marriages around the country.
The United States President, Joe Biden, will today (Tuesday) sign into law, the bill titled “Respect for Marriage Act,” The New York Times reports.
The Act mandates federal recognition for same-sex marriages as the proponents of the legislation argued that Congress needed to be proactive in ensuring a future Supreme Court would not invalidate same-sex marriages around the country.
By signing the bill into law, President Biden would be capping his own personal evolution toward embracing gay rights over the course of a four-decade political career.
The long-debated legislation which was passed by a bipartisan coalition in Congress officially erases the Defense of Marriage Act, which a quarter of a century ago defined marriage as between a man and a woman, and prohibits states from denying the validity of out-of-state marriages based on sex, race or ethnicity.
The New York Times reports that the White House has invited several thousands of guests to what has been described as an elaborate signing ceremony on the South Lawn. The event will be complete with musical performances, as the president celebrates passage of what officials are calling a “historic piece of legislation.”
The signing ceremony will be an indication of how much President Biden has changed when it comes to championing L.G.B.T.Q. equality, having voted for the Defense of Marriage Act as a senator in 1996 and later wavered by letting gay men and lesbians serve in the military.
It was reported that Biden was unequivocal in his support for the new legislation, as he said earlier this year that he was confident that “Republicans and Democrats can work together to secure the fundamental right of Americans to marry the person they love.”
Recall that as vice president, Biden had publicly announced his support for same-sex marriage before his boss, President Barack Obama, as he careful mapped out plans for Obama’s re-election announcement.
Also, in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” in 2012, Mr. Biden said that “I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexual men and women marrying one another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights.”
However, opponents of the legislation argued that it would undermine family values in the US and restrict the religious freedoms of people who do not believe that same-sex marriage is moral.