US President Joe Biden signed into law a law protecting gay marriage. It is a “step towards equality, freedom and justice for all”.
“Today is a good day,” US President Joe Biden said at a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House before a crowd of invited guests to mark the new gay marriage law. “Today, America is taking a most important step toward equality, liberty, and justice, not just for some, but for all.”
The US would become a nation where “decency, dignity and love are recognized, honored and protected,” the US Democrat said before signing the law, called “Respect for Marriage Act”. – about: law for the respect of marriage – set. The ceremony was attended by numerous politicians as well as representatives of the LGBTQ community. Cyndi Lauper and Sam Smith provided the music.
The US Congress finally passed the same-sex marriage law last week. It requires all states to recognize marriages that have been entered into and are valid in another state. However, this does not mean that all states will have to accept same-sex marriages in the future. A law already classified as unconstitutional, which defines marriage as a bond between a man and a woman, will also be deleted.
In 2015, the US Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have the right to marry. However, after the Supreme Court, which had increasingly moved to the right in recent years, abolished the nationwide basic right to abortions that had been in force for almost 50 years in June, fears grew that same-sex marriage could also be in danger.
In a commentary on the abolition of the basic right to abortion, the arch-conservative constitutional judge Clarence Thomas also questioned the fundamental ruling on same-sex marriage.
The House of Representatives therefore voted in July to enshrine gay marriage in law in order to secure it independently of a possible future decision by the Supreme Court. The bill then passed the Senate in November before being passed by a final vote in the House of Representatives last week.
A large majority of the US population — more than 70 percent, according to a summer poll — supports same-sex marriage. The religious right, however, is firmly opposed to gay marriage.
Ten years ago, Biden had already caused a stir when he – then still as Vice President – openly spoke out in favor of gay marriage as the highest-ranking US government official up to that point. He has absolutely no problem with “the fact that men who marry men, women who marry women, and heterosexual men who marry women have exactly the same rights,” the devout Catholic said in a 2012 television interview. The only question is, “Who do you love and will you be loyal to the person you love?”
Biden’s comments hit like a bomb because President Barack Obama, who was then preparing to run for a second term, had not yet publicly spoken out in favor of gay marriage and was still trying to figure out the best strategy on the politically sensitive issue. Biden’s apparently spontaneous interview statements put pressure on Obama to show his colors. A short time later, the President spoke out in favor of gay marriage in an interview.
Biden jokingly addressed his interview at the time on Tuesday. He once got into “difficulties” with his statements, said the President, laughing. Biden made history after entering the White House when, in Pete Buttigieg, who was responsible for transport, he made his first ministerial position as an openly gay man.
