A bill codifying the right to same-sex and interracial marriage passed the Senate yesterday on a vote of 61 - 36, all "no" votes coming from Republicans. The "Respect for Marriage Act" was set in motion by implicit threats by right-wing Justices, Clarence "Ginny's Clown" Thomas in particular, to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 decision that legalized same-sex marriage. After the overturning of Roe v. Wade, it was clear that the right-wing majority on the Court had no regard for precedent or "settled law" like Obergefell. The bill doesn't require States to adopt same-sex marriage laws. The bill mandates that individual States recognize the legal status of married couples who were married in other States where same-sex marriage is legal. The addition of protection for interracial marriage (Loving v. Virginia, 1967) was added as a precaution against white supremacists in Republican state legislatures, and delightfully razzes the hypocritical Thomas, who is himself in an interracial marriage.
The bill now moves to the House, where it is expected to pass as soon as next week, and be sent to President Biden for signature into law. With the House majority flipping to Republican control in January, lawmakers needed to make haste in codifying the measure, which would have died in a right-wing Republican House. The vote for same-sex marriage should have been a no-brainer for Republicans: public support for same-sex marriage is high, with 71% supporting those rights according to Gallup, compared to only 27% in 1996. Homophobic Christofascist evangelical bigotry is part of Republican politics, and likely will be for many years to come.
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