Respect for Marriage Act Requires Same-Gender Marriages to be Federally Recognized

Last Tuesday, December 13, President Joe Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law on the White House South Lawn. This act will help further the protection and acknowledgement of same-gender and interracial marriages in America. 

“Marriage is a simple proposition: Who do you love, and will you be loyal with that person you love? It’s not more complicated than that,” says President Biden.” Love is love. Right is right. Justice is justice.” 

Thousands of people attended the signing on the lawn. Among the attendees was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, two survivors of the Club Q shooting; James Slaugh and Michael Anderson, many of the 16 plaintiffs of the Obergefell Supreme Court case, Cyndi Lauper, and Sam Smith. Both Lauper and Smith performed at the signing. 

This landmark piece of legislation requires the U.S. federal government, as well as all U.S. states and territories, to recognize same-gender and interracial marriages. As a result, the passage of the bill officially repealed the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. Furthermore, the RFMA requires federal acknowledgement of same-gender and interracial marriages in over 1,000 contexts.

These contexts range from social security survivor benefits to inter-state recognition of the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the constitution. The RFMA does not codify the requirement that all states recognize same-sex or interracial marriages.

“For millions of LGBTQIA+ Americans and interracial couples, this is a victory. And it is part of a larger fight,” says Vice President Kamala Harris.

Thirty-nine house republicans and 12 senate republicans joined democrats in passing the bill. This makes the RFMA the most bipartisan supported pro-LGBTQ+ piece of legislation to pass through congress. Nevertheless, this win did not come without compromise. Republicans required the addition of an amendment that ensured nonprofit religious groups would not be required to provide services, goods, or facilities for same-gender marriages. 

“The road to this moment has been long, but those who believe in equality and justice, you never gave up,” Biden says. “So many of you put your relationships on the line, your jobs on the line, your lives on the line, to fight for the law I’m about to sign. For me and the entire nation: thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Many see the Respect for Marriage act as a milestone for the LGBTQ+ community. Even so, critics have been quick to point out that the RFMA is not doing enough. If the Obergefell v. Hodges verdict is overturned, multiple states will reinstate bans on same-sex marriage.

The push to codify marriage protection has been substantial following the overturning to Roe v. Wade and Justice Thomas’s comments on the Obergefell decision. In addition, Republicans have introduced a growing amount of anti-LGBTQ legislation in the past year. The bill was signed one day before the House Oversight Committee hearing on the rise of anti-LGBTQ legislation and violence.

“We must act now—on a bipartisan, bicameral basis—to combat bigoted extremism and uphold the inviolability of same-sex and interracial marriages,” says Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.