Joe Biden signed Tuesday at the White House, in front of thousands of guests, a law that protects same-sex marriage throughout the United States.
By promulgating this text, the US president hailed “a crucial step towards equality, freedom and justice, not only for a few but for all”.
This is a special moment for the US president, who made an impression ten years ago by saying publicly that he was in favor of marriage for all when he was vice president under Barack Obama.
“Bringing Tranquility”
Joe Biden invited, in the White House gardens, “a group of parliamentarians” from the Democratic Party and the Republican opposition, as well as “activists and people who have initiated legal proceedings on marriage for all” in the country, said its spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre on Monday.
Guests from the world of music and entertainment were also present.
This law “will bring peace of mind to the millions of LGBTQI+ and inter-ethnic couples who now have the rights and protection due to them and their children,” said Karine Jean-Pierre, who is also the first black and lesbian woman to serve as a spokesperson. for the White House.
Same-sex unions have been guaranteed by the US Supreme Court since 2015. But after the high court’s historic reversal on abortion in June, many progressives fear that right could crumble, too.
A pioneering president
The law enacted on Tuesday repeals previous laws that defined marriage as the union between a man and a woman. And it prohibits civil registrars – regardless of the state in which they work – to discriminate against couples “because of their sex, race, ethnicity or origin.”
It was approved in Congress by all elected Democrats and 39 Republicans, while 169 members of the Conservative Party opposed it.
A large majority of Americans support same-sex marriage, even in Republican ranks. But the religious right remains largely opposed.
Karine Jean-Pierre recalled this Monday that the US president had been one of the first political leaders to support, at the top of the State, homosexual marriage.
In 2012, Joe Biden was vice president. And in a way, he had questioned the courtesy of Barack Obama in saying publicly that he was in favor of marriage for all, while the White House continued to search for the best way to formalize the position of the Democratic president, who was then launching his campaign for a second term. .
“Who is your love?”
“It’s a simple question: who do you love? Who do you love and will you be true to the person you love?” Joe Biden said in a much talked about television interview.
“I don’t have the slightest problem with men marrying men and women marrying women with exactly the same rights as men marrying women,” he said.
Once in the White House, the 80-year-old Democrat had chosen Pete Buttigieg as Transportation Minister, who became the first openly gay person confirmed at this level of responsibility by the Senate.
Joe Biden also released US passports that allow you to declare your gender “X,” and not just “H” (male) or “F” (female). He also lifted Donald Trump’s ban on transgender people serving in the military.
Source: BFM TV
