L.A., IE reps defend same-sex marriage

Tuesday, the House of Representatives voted 267-157 in favor of the Respect for Marriage Act.

In brief, the bill would federally protect same-sex marriages by, among other things, repealing the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage for federal purposes as between a man and a woman.

As summarized by the Congressional Research Service, the bill “repeals and replaces provisions that define, for purposes of federal law, marriage as between a man and a woman and spouse as a person of the opposite sex with provisions that recognize any marriage that is valid under state law.”

The Respect for Marriage Act also would offer protections to interracial marriages.

This is in response to concerns that the U.S. Supreme Court could conceivably overturn court precedents on marriage.

Justice Clarence Thomas, in his concurring opinion in the Dobbs case overturning Roe v. Wade, called on his colleagues to “reconsider all of this Court's substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell.”

Griswold v. Connecticut established a right to access birth control, Lawrence v. Texas struck down state bans on same-sex sexual activity and Obergefell v. Hodges extended marriage rights to same-sex couples.

Notably, of the 267 to vote in favor of the Respect for Marriage Act were Republican Reps. Mike Garcia of Los Angeles County and Jay Obernolte and Ken Calvert of the Inland Empire.

Two of the three, Garcia and Calvert, are facing competitive reelections.

Garcia, who was reelected by just hundreds of votes two years ago, received just more than 47% in the June primary.

Calvert received just more than 48% of the vote in the primary.

By comparison, Obernolte received more than 60% of the vote in June.

With their votes, Garcia and Calvert have taken at least one hot culture war battle off the table. They voted how their Democratic challengers would've voted.

Whatever their individual motives, all three also did the right thing in resisting the push to gut protections for same-sex marriage, and that's what matters.