Biden Signs Respect for Marriage Act Into Law

This afternoon, President Joe Biden formally signed H.R. 8404, the Respect for Marriage Act, into law.

In a White House ceremony on the South Lawn, Biden was joined by several hundred LGBT activists and supporters and preceded by speeches from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D–N.Y.) and House Speaker (for a few more weeks) Nancy Pelosi (D–Calif.) and musical performances from the likes of Sam Smith and Cyndi Lauper. The president took note of the historic moment.

"Deciding whether to marry and who to marry is one of the most profound decisions a person can make," Biden said, repeating some of the same sentiments that garnered media attention back in 2012 when he broke from President Barack Obama as vice president in support of recognition. "Marriage is a simple proposition: Who do you love? And will you be loyal to the person you love? It should not be more complicated than that. Everybody should have the right to make that decision for themselves, without government interference."

The Respect for Marriage Act definitively writes into law federal legal recognition of same-sex and interracial marriages. They are the law of the land as it stands, but concerns that a future Supreme Court might undo recent precedents that mandate recognition led to the negotiated development of this act, which passed the House earlier in the year and the Senate in November.