The U.S. Senate on Monday moved one step closer to codifying same-sex marriage protections into law, voting 61-35 in favor of adding an amendment to the Respect for Marriage Act to protect religious liberties.
The move sets up a final Senate vote on the amended bill, expected later this week. Should it receive enough support, the Respect for Marriage Act would then go to the House of Representatives for a final vote, where it is widely expected to pass, before heading to President Joe Biden’s desk for signature.
“This Senate just voted to move forward on the Respect for Marriage Act to send a message to Americans everywhere: No matter who you are or who you love, you deserve dignity and equal treatment under the law,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., tweeted immediately following the vote.
The House of Representatives passed their version of a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in July, with 47 Republicans joining all present Democrats. But action on the bill stalled in the Senate, where Republicans expressed concerns that the bill would, as written, infringe on the rights of religious groups and organizations that do not support same-sex marriage.
In mid-November, a bipartisan group of Senators introduced an amendment that, in part, ensure religious non-profits would not be required to facilitate marriages that go against their beliefs, and further makes clear “that the bill does not require or authorize the federal government to recognize polygamous marriages.”
Senators added clarifying language that would prevent the bill “from being used to diminish or repeal” any religious liberty provisions awarded in the Constitution or under federal law, and states that an organization’s tax-exempt status may not be altered under the bill, provided that status “does not arise from a marriage.”
Those additions, spearheaded by Democrats Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and Republican Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., were enough to pick up a debate-ending, filibuster-avoiding 12 Republican votes ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.
Monday’s vote officially added those religious protections to the Respect for Marriage Act. Still, a large group of Republicans argued the protections still don’t go far enough, with Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, proposing a further amendment that would “prohibit the federal government from retaliating against any person or group for adhering to sincerely held religious beliefs and moral convictions about marriage.”
“In no way would my amendment impair the RFMA’s ability to perform its simple, stated purpose: to protect same-sex marriage against an extremely unlikely scenario in which the Supreme Court one day decides to overturn…
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