Should the 'Respect for Marriage Act' be Passed into Law?

The Senate voted 62 to 37 on Wednesday to advance a bill codifying both same-sex marriage and interracial marriage into law. Twelve Republican Senators voted in favor of the Respect for Marriage Act, overcoming the threshold to filibuster legislation.

In Favor: In a statement from the White House on Wednesday, President Joe Biden urged Congress “to quickly send this bill to my desk where I will promptly sign it into law.” A writer for CNN Opinion (Left Bias) determined that “unless everyone’s right to marriage is protected through bipartisan legislation, no marriage is safe.” The Washington Post Editorial Board cited widespread American support for same-sex marriage to urge senators to pass a “measure that is popular, common-sense and, above all, moral.” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints announced support for the bill on Tuesday.

Against: A piece in the Daily Signal described the bill as a “stick of dynamite that, in the hands of the Left, would supercharge the attacks, the marginalization, and the oppression of people of faith.” An opinion writer in Newsweek (Center Bias) drew distinctions between same-sex partnerships and the institution of marriage, determining that marriage is “most fundamentally oriented towards procreation.” A writer in Deseret News (Center Bias) stated that a “revisionist conception of marriage” would degrade the institution and open the door for polygamy and divorce. The writer also wondered if widespread public support for legalized same-sex marriage was the result of respondents “telling pollsters what they think they want to hear.”