A bill protecting same-sex marriage in the United States passed a key stage in the Senate on Wednesday, after an agreement earlier this week between elected officials on both sides. By a majority of 62 to 37, senators, including a dozen Republicans, voted in favor of a procedural provision, a rare vote that crossed partisan lines, just over a week after the midterm elections. The text should now be adopted after Thanksgiving, at the end of November.
In the United States, same-sex unions have been guaranteed by the Supreme Court since 2015. But after the high court’s historic reversal on abortion, many progressives fear that this right will also be unraveled.
In mid-July, the US House of Representatives passed a law to protect these unions across the country. All Democrats and 47 Republicans had supported the text. But nearly 160 Republicans opposed it.
Balancing exercise
In the Senate, negotiations had been underway for weeks to ensure the support of at least ten Republicans for the text, necessary for its passage due to qualified majority rules. A group made up of senators from both parties announced Monday that an agreement had been reached in this regard.
This text “will ensure that LGBTQI + and mixed couples are respected and protected uniformly by federal law”, welcomed President Joe Biden in a press release. If the Supreme Court reverses its decision, the law would not require states to issue marriage certificates for same-sex couples, for constitutional reasons, much to the chagrin of the left. But it would force States to recognize a certificate issued by another, and to grant these cows the protections (tax, health, parenthood) resulting therefrom.
A large majority of Americans support same-sex marriage, including in the Republican ranks. But the religious right remains mostly opposed to it.