WASHINGTON — Ever since the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court, Democratic lawmakers appear to be focused on codifying certain rights on the books they feel could also be in jeopardy.
One of those is the right for two people of the same sex to be married, which is now legal at the state level in most states in the U.S. However, lawmakers hope to codify it on the federal level with the Respect for Marriage Act.
Essentially the bill would make it so states are legally required to recognize the marriage of a same-sex couple, regardless of if same-sex marriage is legal or not in the state. It would also repeal the Defense of Marriage Act enacted in 1996 under then-President Bill Clinton (D), which legally defined marriage as being between one man and one woman.
Most of the Defense of Marriage Act has been gutted due to Supreme Court rulings saying most of the law’s provisions are unconstitutional.
The bill has lukewarm bipartisan support and passed the House with 47 Republicans voting in favor of it. It needs 10 Republicans in the Senate to head to President Biden for his signature.
Many Republicans are opposing it, such as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) who told CNN last week the bill is a “stupid waste of time.”
“This is really, really important to a lot of people,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on CNN’s State of the Union. “It’s certainly important to me. I depend on and count on my spouse every day and our marriage deserves to be treated equally.”
Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, is gay and has been married to his husband Chastin for many years now.
“I don’t know why this would be hard for a senator or a congressman,” he added. “I don’t understand how such a majority of House Republicans voted ‘no” on our marriage.”
Buttigieg had just been in a House hearing discussing transportation issues last week when the House voted to approve the measure with a majority of GOP lawmakers voting against it.
Buttigieg suggests that if Republicans don’t want to spend a lot of time on the bill, then they should “vote ‘yes’ and move on.”
It’s not clear yet if the bill has enough Republican support in the Senate to pass. Sen. Susan Collins (R-MA), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) have said they plan to vote in favor of it.
