WASHINGTON – A bill to protect federal recognition of same-sex marriage, backed by LGBT supporters and religious groups, is expected to pass in the US House of Representatives on Tuesday with bipartisan support, a sign of a significant cultural shift into a divided nation.
The Respect for Marriage Act, passed by the US Senate last week, was created as a restraint to a 2015 Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, known as Obergefell v. Hodges.
The law would allow the federal government to continue to recognize same-sex and interracial marriages in states where the marriages were legally performed if a court overturns Obergefell, concerns raised after the court overturned statewide abortion rights in June.
A cross-party amendment added in November confirmed the law would not undermine existing religious freedoms and helped quell initial opposition from the Conservatives. The bill, led by a group of Democratic and Republican senators, has the support of several national religious groups
Paul Brandeis Rauschenbusch, an American Baptist minister and president of the Interfaith Alliance, said support for the bill by religious groups showed many had experienced a “tremendous shift” in their perspective on same-sex marriage.
He attributed the change in part to the fact that such marriages were no longer uncommon in the United States after the Supreme Court legalized them.
Several conservative senators opposed aspects of this bill, which were eventually supported by a dozen Republicans.