The Respect for Marriage Act: The First Step Towards Codifying Same Sex Marriage in the US.

Today, the US House of Representatives is going to vote on the Respect for Marriage Act, enshrining the Constitutional right of same sex couples to marry the one we love into law. What does this bill entail? 1) Repeals the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act; 2) Enshrines marriage equality for federal law purposes; 3) Provides additional marriage protections at the state level. A similar bill is sponsored in the Senate by Senators Susan Collins of Maine, and Diane Feinstein (CA) and Tammy Baldwin (WI).

Currently, my right to marry my husband, Christian Halstead, on July 9, 2022, was only made possible by two decisions made by the US Supreme Court, in the cases of United States v. Windsor (2013) and Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), which invalidated the Defense of Marriage Act. The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was brought about by Congressman Bob Barr (married and divorced 3 times) and Senator Don Nickles, both members of the  Republican Party, which was signed into law 25 years ago by then-President Clinton in 1996. Even though Clinton saw it as "divisive and unnecessary," he nonetheless signed it into law in September 1996, because he knew if he didn't it would be used against him in his re-election campaign, and the US was not at a place of supporting same-sex marriage.

Since Obergefell v. Hodges won us, the LGBTQIA2S+ community, the right to marry the person we love, 300,000 weddings have taken place, ours being one of them. 

Why all this commotion all of a sudden, in codifying marriage equality as the law of the land? Wasn't the decision of the Supreme Court of the US (SCOTUS) enough?

No. After Roe v. Wade was ruled unconstitutional by the current SCOTUS, Supreme Court Justice Clarence thomas said that the  SCOTUS should reconsider Obergefell v. Hodges, along with other SCOTUS decisions that were seen as precedent setting. The current conservative majority of the SCOTUS no longer consider "precedence" as something not to tamper with, and are in the mood to take away rights, rather than provide more rights for the American people. For the SCOTUS to re-consider and overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, a case would have to come up to it from lower courts, but bringing such a case is definitely a goal of anti-LGBTQIA2S+ forces in this country. By the legislative branch of the US government making same-sex marriage/marriage equality the law of the land, signed by the President, there would be protection for those of us in the LGBTQIA2S+ community who are married or want to be married in the future. This bill would both protect our right to marry, as well as have our marriages recognized as legitimate across the land, whether a clerk at some small, conservative county court house liked it or not, based on the clerk's religious preference.

For more information on this bill, go to this link: https://www.advocate.com/politics/2022/7/18/respect-marriage-act-introduced-protect-marriage-equality

Expect an update soon, as the bill is being voted on by the US House of Representatives today, and will then go on to the US Senate, in which it will need 10 Republicans to break rank and vote for it in order for it to become the law of the land.

What is puzzling is the silence of the denominations that approve same-sex marriage/marriage equality. There is nothing being said by any of those mainline denominations that support my/our right to wed as part of the LGBTQIA2S+ community. Silence.

After all, all that we are asking for is for our marriage to held in respect by all. To quote the reversed judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Court: "marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death." 

May it be so. 

Update: It passed in the House, or was "voted out of the House," and is now on its way to the US Senate. Forty-seven Republicans voted with Democrats "for" the bill (267), while 157 Republicans voted against the bill. Now, onto the Senate!