The U.S. House of Representatives voted 267-157 on Tuesday to pass the Respect for Marriage Act, which repeals the Defense of Marriage Act and enshrines protections for gay "marriage" into federal law. The bill now goes to the U.S. Senate.
"This legislation guarantees that no married couple can be denied equal protection under federal law," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said. "This is really very important: from tax provisions to Social Security benefits and more, even if the Court were to erase marriage freedom, God forbid."
Forty-seven of the 211 House Republicans voted in favor of the bill including Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) and Liz Cheney (R-WY).
All 220 Democrats voted in favor of the bill.
"This legislation would reverse the law in 35 states," Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) said. "In 30 of those 35 states, the people of those respective states went to the ballot and voted for that …. it would undo what the people [wanted]."
The Respect for Marriage Act comes in response to the U.S. Supreme Court's recent overturning of Roe v. Wade in which Justice Clarence Thomas said "in future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court's substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell."
"We are here because, just three weeks ago, the Republican-controlled Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade: ripping away a woman's freedom over her most intimate health decisions," said Pelosi. "These radical Justices took a wrecking ball to [the] precedent of the Court and privacy in the Constitution – and placed even more of our cherished freedoms on the chopping block."
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