Lauren C. Moye, FISM News
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The Senate is set to vote on codifying both same-sex and interracial marriages this week following a bipartisan deal meant to strengthen religious freedom to secure more of the Republican vote.
After delaying the vote until after the midterms due to uncertain support, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced the news Monday afternoon:
With the Respect for Marriage Act:
I just took steps on the Senate floor to set up a first procedural vote for Wednesday on legislation to codify marriage equality into law.
No American should ever be discriminated against because of who they love.https://t.co/D2tPlyVNmc
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) November 14, 2022
Because of the slim majority possessed by liberals in the Senate and filibuster rules, the Respect for Marriage Act needs at least ten Republican votes to successfully pass to the president’s desk.
Until now, only five Republican senators have publicly pledged their votes: Ron Johnson (Wis.), Thom Tillis (N.C.), Susan Collins (Maine), Rob Portman (Ohio), and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska).
Collins, Portman, Tillis, and Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), and Krysten Sinema (D-Ariz.) issued a joint statement on Monday saying they’ve crafted “commonsense language” into the bill that “fully respects and protects Americans’ religious liberties and diverse beliefs.”
This amendment prevents the gay marriage act from repealing religious liberty and conscience protections currently available under the Constitution or Federal Law. One stated example of this protection is the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which generally prohibits the government from “substantially burdening a person’s exercise of religion.”
The amendment will prevent non-profit religious organizations from having to offer services or facilities in connection to gay marriage ceremonies.
Additionally, churches, universities, or other nonprofits cannot have their “tax-exempt status, tax treatment, grants, contracts, agreements, guarantees, educational funding, loans, scholarships, licenses, certifications, accreditations, claims, or defenses” denied or altered because they hold to a traditional Biblical worldview of marriage.
Finally, it would exclude polygamous marriages from being federally recognized.
The coalition is “confident that this amendment has helped earn the broad, bipartisan support needed to pass.”
Baldwin (D-Wis.), who spearheaded the House bill’s campaign in the Senate, further said they were going to “get this done.”
The Respect for Marriage Act will protect marriage equality and ensure individuals in same-sex and interracial marriages are guaranteed the same rights & freedoms as every other marriage.
We are going to get this done for loving families across America.
— Sen. Tammy Baldwin (@SenatorBaldwin) November 14, 2022
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a conservative think tank and legal counsel, has warned the amendment does not adequately protect religious freedom from the bill simply by deferring to prior religious freedom laws. Doing this does not take away from the “negative impact on religious exercise” and would force targeted individuals to “spend years in litigation and thousands of dollars” to protect their religious and free speech rights, wrote ADF Senior Counsel Gregory Baylor.
The amendment also fails to protect social-service organizations like adoption or foster placement groups from following Christian convictions.
Finally, Baylor said that the Respect for Marriage Act could allow the IRS to “conclude that certain nonprofits are not ‘charitable,’” because they violate a national policy. This still potentially impacts the tax-exempt status of religious organizations.
Schumer originally planned to hold a vote on the bill in September, but ultimately delayed that vote when it was decided there was not enough Republican support to pass the bill.
The Respect for Marriage Act passed the House in late July by 267-157. It gained the support of 47 GOP representatives.
Prompted by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s remark after overturning Roe v. Wade that the top U.S. court should revisit prior rulings like 2015’s Obergefell v. Hodges, which required all states to grant same-sex marriage, the Respect for Marriage Act was pushed by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler to codify a federal right for same-sex marriage.
However, in the event that Obergefell is overturned, this legislation would only require states to honor marriages validated in other states. States could, in theory, vote to restrict gay marriages within their boundaries.