Senate Votes to Advance Same-Sex Marriage Bill
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An amendment adding religious-freedom protections to the Respect for Marriage Act cleared a procedural hurdle in the Senate on Monday, paving the way for a final vote on the full bill on Tuesday.
The Senate voted 61–35 to overcome a filibuster, advancing the bill to provide federal protections for same-sex marriages. The amendment, drafted by a bipartisan group of senators including Senator Susan Collins (R., Maine) and Tammy Baldwin (D., Wis.), is an effort to assuage Republican concerns about religious liberty.
“Through bipartisan collaboration, we’ve crafted commonsense language to confirm that this legislation fully respects and protects Americans’ religious liberties and diverse beliefs, while leaving intact the core mission of the legislation to protect marriage equality,” Collins and Baldwin said in a joint statement with Senators Kyrsten Sinema (D., Ariz.), Thom Tillis (R., N.C.), and Rob Portman (R., Ohio).
The revised legislation ensures that nonprofit religious organizations won’t be forced to help facilitate same-sex marriage.
Any religious organization, according to the language of the text, “shall not be required to provide services, accommodations, advantages, facilities, goods, or privileges for the solemnization or celebration of a marriage.” The bill also excludes polygamous marriage from protection, specifically stating that the union must be between “two” individuals.
Meanwhile, Senator Mike Lee (R., Utah) has said the current religious-liberty protections in the bill were “severely anemic and largely illusory” and said the new amendment is “insufficient.”
Sixty-two senators, including twelve Republicans, voted two weeks ago to end debate on the bill and advance it.
Democrats have said the bill is necessary after conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in his concurring opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization earlier this year that the Court “should reconsider” its decisions in Griswold v. Connecticut, Lawrence v. Texas, and Obergefell v. Hodges, which established a right to contraception, privacy in the bedroom, and same-sex marriage, respectively.
“We all know that for all the progress we’ve made on same-sex marriage, the rights of all married couples will never truly be safe without the proper protections under federal law,” Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said on the Senate floor Monday afternoon prior to the vote. “Passing this bill is our chance to send a message to Americans everywhere: No matter who you are or who you love, you too deserve dignity and equal treatment under the law. That’s about as American (an) ideal as it comes.”
The Senate is expected to pass the full bill on Tuesday, after which it will return to the House for a final vote before heading to President Biden’s desk.
