Senate defeats gay marriage filibuster, setting up final vote
Measure would enshrine marriage equality in law
Passage of a measure that would protect gay marriage rights nationwide crossed a key threshold Wednesday when the Senate defeated a filibuster and set the stage for final approval shortly.
Senators voted 62-37 to move the Respect for Marriage Act to the Senate for an up-or-down vote in the near future. Sixty votes were needed to overcome the filibuster and send it to the floor.
“Together with broad bipartisan support, the Senate will provide certainty to millions of Americans in loving marriages and enshrine into law the basic protections afforded all Americans while respecting our country’s critical principle of religious liberty,” said Arizona Democratic Sen. Krysten Sinema, one of the negotiators for the bill, on the Senate floor prior to Wednesday’s vote.
The measure would enshrine marriage equality months after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas raised the specter of reversing the 2015 landmark Obergefell v. Hodges decision recognizing same sex unions.
Thomas called on his fellow justices to “reconsider” other rights established by the high court in the wake of its decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, including access to contraception and gay marriage, in an opinion that sparked an outcry on the left.
Thomas’ opinion concurring with the court’s decision to remove constitutional protections for abortion access prompted the Democratic-led House to pass a marriage equality bill in July, and the Democratic-led Senate to bring a bill to the floor this week.
“The American people want people to have the freedom to marry whom they love and choose,” said Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, the first openly gay person elected to the Senate. “Individuals in same sex marriages and interracial marriages need and deserve the confidence and the certainty that their marriages are legal and will remain legal. These loving couples should be guaranteed the same rights and freedoms as every other marriage.”
Schumer said he wants to pass the bill and send it to President Joe Biden for his signature as soon as possible, though it would have to go back to the House first.
Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz voiced his opposition to the bipartisan legislation in a September episode of his podcast, saying the bill would punish religious institutions that use a “biblical definition of marriage” through a loss of funding.
“This bill, without a religious liberty protection, would have massive consequences across our country, weaponizing the Biden administration to go and target universities, K-12 schools, social services organizations, churches and strip them all of their tax-status,” Cruz said. “That is enormously consequential.”
Trying to address concerns over religious liberty, the bipartisan group of senators led by Baldwin unveiled an amendment to the legislation Monday aimed at addressing concerns from conservative lawmakers over religious liberty concerns.
The updated language would no longer require nonprofit religious organizations to provide support or facilities for same-sex marriages. And it would not recognize polygamous marriages.
“I want to be clear that passing this bill is not at all a theoretical exercise. But it’s as real as it gets.” Majority leader Chuck Schumer
Not acting would ‘put LGBTQ families at risk’
Maine Republican Susan Collins, one of the bill’s sponsors, said the changes would strengthen the measure.
“This bill recognizes the unique and extraordinary importance of marriage on an individual and societal level,” she said on the floor Wednesday. “It would help promote equality, prevent discrimination and protect the rights of Americans in same-sex and interracial marriages. It would accomplish these goals while maintaining, and indeed strengthening, important religious liberty and conscience protections.”
“Millions of Americans are facing dire consequences of what it would mean if Clarence Thomas has his way,” Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin told reporters Tuesday. “Congress cannot allow the court to put LGBTQ families at risk.”