The Respect for Marriage Act will reverse the 1996 law that defines marriage as one between heterosexual couples. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty ImagesThe U.S. House of Representatives is expected to approve the Respect for Marriage Act – a bill already passed in the Senate to codify both interracial and same-gender marriage – on Dec. 8, 2022.
President Joe Biden has said that he will sign the bill into federal law shortly after the upcoming House vote. This will protect the right to same-gender marriage, which is often referred to as same-sex marriage.
Many leaders of major LGBTQ+ rights organizations have praised the Respect for Marriage Act. For example, Kelley Robinson, president of the LGBTQ+ advocacy group the Human Rights Campaign, said in November 2022 that the act will allow “the 568,000 same-sex married couples in this country … (to) breathe a sigh of relief that their marriages will be protected from