Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has revealed that the US Senate will vote on same-sex marriage in the coming days.
Back in June, the US Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalised abortion nationwide.
Alongside the court’s dangerous decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Justice Thomas wrote that the Supreme Court should “reconsider” various landmark decisions such as the right to contraception, same-sex relationships and same-sex marriage.
In response to Thomas’ harmful suggestion, Democrats and 47 Republicans in the House of Representatives voted in favour of the Respect for Marriage Act.
Under the inclusive bill, which passed on 19 July with a 267 to 157 vote, same-sex marriage would be codified, and gay couples would be granted an array of federal protections.
The legislation would also formally repeal the Defense of Marriage Act – which deemed marriage as a union between a man and a woman back in 1996.
However, despite the bill passing in the House, its future is uncertain in the Senate due to the upper chamber’s 50-50 split between Democrats and Republicans.
After months of silence and the US’ high-profile midterm elections, Schumer finally revealed that the Senate would be moving forward with the vote in the coming days.
According to a report from CNN, the Senate Majority Leader filed for cloture on 14 November.
“I’m going to set up the first procedural vote on legislation that will codify marriage equality into law. Members should expect the first vote on Wednesday,” he said.
“No American should ever be discriminated against because of who they love, and passing this bill would secure much-needed safeguards into federal law.”
The bipartisanship group – which includes Sen. Rob Portman, Sen Tammy Baldwin, Sen Susan Collins, Sen Krysten Sinema and Sen Thom Tillis – working on the legislation echoed similar sentiments in a joint statement.
“Through bipartisan collaboration, we’ve crafted commonsense language to confirm that this legislation fully respects and protects Americans’ religious liberties and diverse beliefs while leaving intact the core mission of the legislation to protect marriage equality,” they said.
“We look forward to this legislation coming to the floor and are confident that this amendment has helped earn the broad, bipartisan support needed to pass our commonsense legislation into law.”
While the legislation has received support from various senators, it will need 60 votes to pass due to the Senate’s filibuster rules.
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