House To Approve Respect for Marriage Act Today

From the Conversation:

The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to approve the Respect for Marriage Act – a bill already passed in the Senate to codify both interracial and same-gender marriage – on Dec. 8, 2022.

President Joe Biden has said that he will sign the bill into federal law shortly after the upcoming House vote. This will protect the right to same-gender marriage, which is often referred to as same-sex marriage.

Many leaders of major LGBTQ+ rights organizations have praised the Respect for Marriage Act. For example, Kelley Robinson, president of the LGBTQ+ advocacy group the Human Rights Campaign, said in November 2022 that the act will allow “the 568,000 same-sex married couples in this country … (to) breathe a sigh of relief that their marriages will be protected from future attacks.”

However, the Respect for Marriage Act also has various limitations that have not received a lot of public attention. As a public policy scholar with a focus on LGBTQ+ issues, I’ve noticed at least three major shortcomings related to this imminent law. And as such, I don’t necessarily expect it to lead to legal protection and equality for all.

Read more here.