Congress’s historic shift on marriage equality, in 2 charts

On Thursday, the House passed the Respect for Marriage Act, a historic bill that codifies federal protections for marriage equality and demonstrates a stark reversal nearly a quarter-century after Congress passed a bill intended to deny same-sex couples those same rights.

An overwhelming majority of House lawmakers supported the bill, including 39 Republicans, voting 258-169 to pass a version of it for the second time. House lawmakers approved a previous iteration of the legislation in July, though they had to vote on it again because of new language the Senate added on religious liberties. Since this bill has already passed the Senate, where it also picked up bipartisan support, it now heads to President Joe Biden’s desk, where it will be signed into law.

Once enacted, the legislation will officially repeal the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as a legal union between a man and a woman. The new bill will also require states to recognize same-sex marriages even if a Supreme Court precedent establishing this right is overturned.

The bill’s support speaks to how much Congress, and the US, has evolved on this issue. The last time both chambers passed a bill on same-sex marriage was the passage of DOMA in 1996 during President Bill Clinton’s administration. That law, which has been struck down by the courts, enabled the federal government to discriminate against same-sex couples and gave states the leeway to do the same.