Congress of the United States approves a law that shields gay marriage

The House of Representatives of USA approved a landmark bill on Thursday protecting same-sex marriage, a precautionary move aimed at preventing the conservative-led Supreme Court from striking down that right nationwide, as it did with abortion.

The bill must now be signed into law by President Joe Biden.

LOOK: In 15 years of same-sex marriage in Spain, 100,000 people have been married

In the vote on the House of Representatives39 Republicans joined a united Democratic majority in a rare display of bipartisanship, drawing loud cheers on the floor less than 10 days after the Senate passed the same bill.

“Today this chamber is proud to support the forces of freedom,” said the outgoing Speaker of the House, the Democrat Nancy Pelosishortly before the vote.

In June, the conservative-majority Supreme Court struck down the right to abortion, in place since 1973, prompting lawmakers from both parties to move quickly to prevent a similar abortion measure. marriage between people of the same sex, as some feared could happen.

Biden listed marriage equality as one of his legislative priorities and has said he will “quickly and proudly” sign the bill into law.

“I started my career fighting for communities LGBTQ”Pelosi tweeted Thursday, “and now, one of the final bills I will sign as Speaker of the House will ensure that the federal government will never again get in the way of those who want to marry the one they love.”

The new legislation, known as Law of Respect for Marriagedoes not require states to legalize marriage between people of the same sex, but they do recognize a marriage as long as it is valid in the state where it was made.

“Wrong way”

The new law repeals previous legislation, which defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman, and also protects interracial couples by requiring states to recognize legal marriages without regard to “sex, race, ethnicity, or national origin.” national”.

The public acceptance of marriage Same-sex marriage has grown strongly in recent decades, and polls now show that a large majority of Americans favor it.

But some conservatives and the religious right continue to reject it.

“I think this is the wrong path”said conservative Republican Jim Jordan shortly before the vote.

House Democrats worked urgently to pass the bill while they still control Congress.

The republicans they won a narrow majority in this chamber in the November midterm elections and will take control of it in January, while Democrats retain a narrow majority in the Senate.

In a 2015 decision, the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriages, and hundreds of thousands of gay couples have married since then.

Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.