A bipartisan group of US senators announced Monday that they had reached an agreement to move forward with a bill that aims to protect same-sex marriage at the federal level.
The House of Representatives had approved this legislation in July, but the Senate vote was postponed in September until after the midterm elections that were held on November 8.
Voting will begin next Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday.
“No American should be discriminated against because of the person they love. The approval of this bill would guarantee the necessary safeguards in federal law,” Schumer stressed in the upper house of the US Congress, the same day that legislators returned to activity after the midterm elections.
This bipartisan agreement reached “recognizes the importance of marriage” and maintains that “same-sex and interracial couples deserve the dignity, stability and permanent protection” of that union.
The amendment proposed and promoted by Republican and Democratic senators emphasizes that this bill will not lead to the recognition of polygamous unions and will not have an impact on religious freedom.
This bill encourages the federal government to recognize a marriage between two people if it is valid in the place where it occurred, and guarantees that such marriages receive “full faith and credibility” regardless of the gender, race, ethnicity or origin of its members.
The mobilization around the defense of same-sex marriage gained strength after the Supreme Court, with a conservative majority, overturned on June 24 the “Roe v. Wade” decision, which for half a decade protected access to abortion in the country.
Since then, dozens of activists and progressive politicians have warned that the US Supreme Court could do the same for other rights, such as same-sex marriage.
In the Senate, a majority of 60 votes will be needed to pass the bill. Tight Democratic control means the Joe Biden government needs the support of 10 Republican senators.
Once voted on, the project will return to the House of Representatives for the final vote to take place, on a date yet to be defined, sources from Congress explained to the Efe news agency.
Source: TSF
