McConnell, Rand Paul in minority as Senate OKs bill protecting interracial, gay marriage

Kentucky Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul voted against legislation that a majority of the U.S. Senate passed Tuesday to enshrine specific protections for same-sex and interracial marriages in federal law.

Both of those unions already are legal nationwide. Still, the Respect for Marriage Act gained enough bipartisan support to clear the Senate amid fears that the U.S. Supreme Court could overturn a 2015 ruling that legalized same-sex marriages, much like the court eliminated a nationwide right to abortion this year. (As with same-sex marriage, the Supreme Court effectively legalized interracial marriage across America in a landmark 1967 ruling.)

The legislation would repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act that federally defined marriage as only happening between one man and one woman. It also would make states recognize all marriages that were legal where they were performed (such as unions forged in a different state), and it would protect interracial marriages by essentially requiring states to recognize legal marriages regardless of “sex, race, ethnicity, or national origin."

On Tuesday evening, the Senate passed the proposal in a 61-36 vote, with a dozen Republicans joining the chamber's Democrats to vote for it. The Democrat-led U.S. House of Representatives is expected to soon give the bill the final approval it needs before President Joe Biden can sign it into law.

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The House already passed an earlier version of the Respect for Marriage Act in another bipartisan vote this summer after Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices struck down Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that permitted abortion. That ruling, and Justice Clarence Thomas' suggestion that the court "reconsider" other rights it previously established, fueled speculation that marriage equality could be nixed eventually, too.

The version of the bill the Senate passed Tuesday includes provisions meant to address some conservatives' concerns about religious liberty.

It ensures individuals and groups wouldn't be legally required to provide services for a wedding ceremony or celebration if it's against their religious beliefs, and it also declines to federally recognize polygamous marriages.

Republicans can block, and have blocked, major bills supported by Democrats by denying those proposals enough votes to clear the filibuster, which is the 60-vote threshold senators must meet to go ahead with most legislation. However, this latest measure on marriage equality got enough bipartisan backing to clear that often-fatal hurdle.

It didn't move forward with the support of McConnell or Paul, though. Both Kentucky Republicans voted against advancing the Respect for Marriage Act in an important procedural vote earlier in November and again this week.

USA TODAY contributed to this article. Reach reporter Morgan Watkins at mwatkins@courierjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter: @morganwatkins26.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: McConnell, Rand Paul vote against Respect for Marriage Act in Senate