Courtney Votes to Protect American’s Right to Same-Sex and Interracial Marriage as House Passes the Respect for Marriage Act

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-02) voted to pass legislation in the House of Representatives that would uphold marriage equality for same-sex and interracial couples. The Respect for Marriage Act (H.R. 8404) enshrines protections guaranteed to Americans through U.S. Supreme Court decisions such as Obergefell v. Hodges and Loving v. Virginia in federal law. The bill also repeals the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act. The House originally passed the Respect for Marriage Act in July with bipartisan support. After the Senate passed an altered version of the legislation last week, the House passed it again with bipartisan support, and it will now be sent to the President’s desk to be signed into law.

“After the Supreme Court’s divisive, radical decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, other long-settled Court precedents on Americans’ right to privacy were thrown into doubt, since the rationale of Dobbs striking down ‘unenumerated rights’ could easily be extended beyond reproductive choice. In passing the Respect for Marriage Act, Congress has taken action and protected same-sex and interracial couples’ right to marry under federal law,” said Rep. Courtney. “Now, any future attempt by the Court to turn the clock back decades and strip people of these fundamental rights has been preemptively thwarted by this legislation. I’m proud to help pass the Respect for Marriage Act and look forward to the President signing it into law.”

In his concurring opinion to June’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, Justice Clarence Thomas explicitly called on the Supreme Court to reconsider its decisions protecting same-sex marriage and other unenumerated rights. Thomas wrote that although nothing in the Dobbs decision “should be understood to cast doubt on precedents that do not concern abortion […] in future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell.” Extremists seized on this opinion and began an effort to strip same-sex couples of their right to marry. An analysis from the Pew Research Center determined that without the Court's upholding of Obergefell, most states would revive a prohibition on same-sex marriage without immediate legislative action. 35 states ban same-sex marriage in their constitutions, state law, or both, according to the analysis—all were invalidated by the 2015 Obergefell ruling, and all would kick back in should the Supreme Court overturn the right to same-sex marriage. Although Justice Thomas did not mention Loving v. Virginia or the right to interracial marriage in his opinion, that right relies on the same unenumerated privacy rights as the right to same-sex marriage, and could be vulnerable to legal challenge.

The Respect for Marriage Act would codify the right to same-sex and interracial marriage guaranteed by Obergefell into law. Specifically, the bill would:

• Require the federal government to recognize a marriage between two individuals if the marriage was valid in the state where it was performed
• Prohibit state officials from denying recognition of an out-of-state marriage on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity or national origin.
• Protect all religious liberty and conscience protections available under the Constitution or Federal law

The Respect for Marriage Act would not:

• Require a state to issue marriage licenses contrary to state law

The Respect for Marriage Act is supported by national organizations including ACLU, Center for American Progress, Equality Federation, Family Equality, Freedom for All Americans, GLAD, Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal, National Black Justice Coalition, National Center for Lesbian Rights, National Women’s Law Center and PFLAG.

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