The United States Senate is set to vote on Tuesday, November 29, 2022 on a legislation to protect same-sex and interracial marriages.

This puts the Congress a step closer to passing the landmark bill and ensuring that such unions are enshrined in federal law.

The legislation would require states to recognize all marriages that were legal where they were performed, and protect current same-sex unions. It would also protect interracial marriages by requiring states to recognize legal marriages regardless of “sex, race, ethnicity, or national origin.”

The vote on the Respect for Marriage Act is the result of months of bipartisan negotiation and puts the landmark bill one step closer to being signed into law.

Senate Democrats are moving quickly, while the party still holds the majority in both chambers of Congress, to pass the bill requiring that such unions are legally recognized nationwide.

The House would still have to vote on the legislation and send it to President Joe Biden’s desk.

The bill has gained steady momentum since the Supreme Court’s June decision that overturned the federal right to an abortion, and comments from Justice Clarence Thomas at the time that suggested same-sex marriage could also come under threat.

Bipartisan Senate negotiations kick-started this summer after 47 Republicans unexpectedly voted for a House bill and gave supporters new optimism.

The legislation would not codify the Supreme Court’s decision in 2015 that legalized gay marriage nationwide or force any state to allow same-sex couples to marry.

“The rights of all married couples will never truly be safe without the proper protections under federal law, and that’s why the Respect for Marriage Act is necessary,” Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., remarked on the Senate floor ahead of a test vote on Monday, November 28, 2022.

Passage of the legislation would be a major victory for Democrats as they usher out their two years of consolidated power in Washington, and a massive win for advocates who have been pushing for decades for a federal legislation that legalizes same sex marriages.

Schumer informed that it is notable that the Senate is even having the debate. He said, “A decade ago, it would have strained all of our imaginations to envision both sides talking about protecting the rights of same-sex married couples.”

A test vote Monday evening moved the legislation closer to passage, with 12 Republicans who have previously supported the bill voting again to move it forward.

Democrats set up a Tuesday afternoon vote after Republicans negotiated votes on three amendments that would protect the rights of religious institutions and others to still oppose such marriages.

Supporters of the legislation claim those amendments are unnecessary because they are already amending the bill to clarify that it does not affect rights of private individuals or businesses that are currently enshrined in law.

Republican Senator, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who has been convincing his fellow Republican senators to support the legislation for months, points to the number of religious groups which are in support of the bill, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Some of those groups were part of negotiations on the bipartisan amendment.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a statement earlier this month which asserts that church doctrine would continue to consider same-sex relationships to be against God’s commandments.

However, it would support rights for same-sex couples as long as they didn’t infringe upon religious groups’ right to believe as they choose.

Majority Of Republicans Still In Opposition

Most Republicans still oppose the legislation, stating that it is unnecessary and citing concerns about religious liberties. Some conservative groups have also stepped up opposition in recent weeks.

The Heritage Foundation’s Roger Severino, Vice President of domestic policy, wrote in a recent blog post arguing against the bill.

“As I and others have argued for years, marriage is the exclusive, lifelong, conjugal union between one man and one woman, and any departure from that design hurts the indispensable goal of having every child raised in a stable home by the mom and dad who conceived him.”
Roger Severino

Democrats delayed consideration of the bill until after the midterm elections, hoping that it would relieve political pressure on some Republican senators who might be wavering.

The delay appeared to work, and eventual support from twelve Republicans gave Democrats the votes they needed.

The growing support from Republican senators for the issue is a sharp contrast from even a decade ago, when many Republicans vociferously opposed same-sex marriages.