Before we end the Year of 2022, we must emphatically note that President Joe Biden signed the historic Respect for Marriage Act into law on December 13, — a little more than 10 years after he first announced his support for marriage equality as former President Barack Obama’s vice president in 2012, as Chris Walker at TruthOut reports. For more:
On social media earlier in the day, Biden had celebrated his plans to sign the legislation, which will enact federal protections for LGBTQ couples who are seeking to marry or who have already married since the landmark 2015 Supreme Court ruling Obergefell v. Hodges, which established marriage equality across the U.S.
“Today, I sign the Respect for Marriage Act into law — a landmark civil rights bill that honors the courage and sacrifice of generations of couples who fought for marriage equality and equal rights,” Biden wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday morning.
“If there is one message that breaks through from today, it’s that this law — and the love it defends — strikes a blow against hate in all its forms,” Biden added in a Twitter post.
Biden had also previously pointed out that the bill is just “one step” on a “long journey to build a more perfect union.”
“We must never stop fighting for full equality for LGBTQI+ Americans and all Americans,” Biden said in a statement last week.
Biden’s views on marriage equality have shifted over the past two decades. In 2005, just 37 percent of the U.S. population believed that same-sex couples should have the legal right to marry, according to polling from Gallup. In 2022 — just 17 years later — 71 percent back marriage equality.
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