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The Senate voted overwhelmingly Thursday to confirm the nationwide legality of same-sex and interracial marriage Tuesday — with 12 Republicans joining all Democrats in assent.
The 61-36 vote followed House passage of the bill in July with almost a quarter of lower-chamber Republicans voting in support. The bill must now go back to the House for final approval, which is likely to come next week.
President Biden intends to sign the law, which was pitched by a bipartisan group of legislators after the Supreme Court in June overturned Roe v. Wade and returned abortion policy to the states, some of which all but banned the procedure.
The Supreme Court scrapped state bans on interracial marriage in the 1967 case Loving v. Virginia and legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in the 2015 case Obergefell v. Hodges — but the abortion ruling stoked concern that those precedents were at risk.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), the only openly gay or lesbian person currently serving in the Senate, said, “I want to recognize the millions of same-sex and interracial couples who have truly made this moment possible by living their true selves and changing the hearts and minds of people around this country.”
The legislation passed after the Senate defeated three amendments intended to bolster legal protections for people who disapprove of same-sex relationships.
Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) argued that religious Americans already have sufficient defenses.
“This protects everything from the tax status of religious nonprofits to the accreditation of religious schools to the contracts between faith-based adoption providers and the government from being attacked using this bill,” Portman said.
“It ensures that nonprofit religious organizations — including churches, mosques, synagogues, religious schools, and others — can not be required to provide facilities, goods or services for marriage ceremonies or celebrations against their will.
