Gay rights activists protest outside the Supreme Court building. /
The law will require the support of ten senators from the opposition party for it to go ahead
It was seen as a symbolic vote to record in the legislative annals that Democrats had tried to save gay marriages because no one had much hope that the proposal would become law, given the party’s lack of a majority in the Senate. Then the unexpected happened: 47 Republican deputies decided to join the Democratic plenary session to support the Respect for Marriage Law, which protects unions between couples of the same sex, different races and even different nationalities.
The spectacle of conservatives supporting such a progressive cause has given a breath of life to the initiative, which otherwise would not even have reached the full Senate, where it will need ten Republican votes to be approved. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said he was so “impressed” that he immediately went to work with Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Balwin to convince some of his House Republican colleagues.
Among those who supported the bill on Tuesday are Deputy Liz Cheney, daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney and a member of the bipartisan commission investigating the January 6 insurrection, Cuban-American Mario Díaz-Balart, a hard-liner from Miami exile, and a string of legislators from states as conservative as Utah, Missouri, Pennsylvania or Ohio, in addition to those from New York and California.
popular support
What had happened? Polls show that as much as the Supreme Court is uncomfortable with the case law that protects it, marriage between two people of the same sex enjoys 71% approval in society, according to the latest Gallup poll. In comparison, only 27% supported it in 1996, when Bill Clinton signed a law to define marriage as an exclusive sacrament between a man and a woman. Going back to “tradition”, as the conservative majority of the Supreme Court has expressed in the ruling that squanders the right to abortion, would be very unpopular, not only among progressives but also among Republicans.
This indicates that it will be easier to defend this right than that of women to terminate pregnancy. At least 17 of them, all congresswomen, were detained on the courthouse steps Tuesday during an “obstruction” protest, said Capitol Police, who also arrested 35 other protesters.
“I am angry and heartbroken,” tweeted Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, who ranks fourth in the House Democratic hierarchy. “They can arrest me, but I will not allow them to arrest our freedoms. I will continue to fight with pride for our right to abortion and all our constitutional rights », she stoned.