On July 19th, the United States House of Representatives passed a bill that would make the right to engage in same sex ‘marriage’ federal law. As it currently stands, laws against same sex marriage at the state level have been rendered unenforceable by the Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges. This so-called ‘Respect for Marriage Act’ was pushed by Democratic representatives who said:

“It is critical to ensure that federal law protects those whose constitutional rights might be threatened by Republican-controlled state legislatures. LGBTQ Americans and those in interracial marriages deserve to have certainty that they will continue to have their right to equal marriage recognized, no matter where they live.”

Despite the anti-Republican attitude, forty-seven Republican representatives joined in voting for the Respect for Marriage Act. Unsurprisingly, President Biden announced support for the bill. According to Craig Caplan, the White House said: 

"The Administration strongly supports passage of HR 8404, the Respect for Marriage Act..No person should face discrimination because of who they are or whom they love, & every married couple in the US deserves the security of knowing their marriage will be defended & respected."

While LGBTQ+ advocated typically deny this slippery slope, it is hard to see how crimes like pedophilia can consistently be penalized with the thinking that “[n]o person should face discrimination because of who they are or whom they love.” 

HR 8404 now heads to the Senate. It will take ten Republicans voting in favor of the bill before it would come to President Biden’s desk. 

The bill also protects interracial marriages and access to contraception, thought the obvious contentious issue regards same sex marriage. The bill would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996, which defined marriage as one man and one woman for federal purposes. 

The forty-seven yea-voting Republicans demonstrate a shift that has occurred in Republican politics. Only ten years ago, the official national Republican platform called for a constitutional amendment that would enshrine the traditional idea that marriage is between one man and one woman. Now, Rep. Mike Johnson, the vice chair of the House GOP conference, described it as a “matter of conscience.” That is, a faithful Republican could vote for or against the bill according to Johnson. The Hill notes that while a majority of Republicans still voted against HR 8404, the arguments did not focus on natural law or ethical/societal concerns related to same sex marriage. Rather, the opposition was mainly concerned with Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s  potential “use [of] the vote as a political tool in the midterms.”

‘Respect for Marriage’ is an interesting name for this bill. Clearly, it is a direct counter to the Defense of Marriage Act. The question needs to be answered, what is marriage? If we can’t define something as a culture, we can neither defend nor respect it.