United States: Same-sex Marriage Recognized at the Federal Level

“Today, America has taken a great step towards equality, freedom and justice for all, a step towards the advent of a nation where decency, dignity and love are recognized, honored and protected.”

The emphasis and the smiles of circumstance are there on the lawn of the White House, on this December 13, 2022, when the American president was to sign the law on respect for marriage, the Respect for Marriage Act (RFMA).

It is a legislative text which, contrary to what its title suggests, has little respect for the institution of marriage, since it in fact repeals the 1996 law – the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) – thereby allowing the recognition, at the federal level, of same-sex marriage.

Incidentally, the chief executive of the United States took the opportunity to cast aspersions on DOMA, the act he had just erased with the stroke of a pen, accusing it of being the “breath of hatred in all its forms.”

For the record, the repealed DOMA was signed more than 25 years ago by Democratic President Bill Clinton. The text then defined marriage at the federal level as the union of a man and a woman, prohibited federal benefits for homosexual couples, and allowed the states within country to not recognize same-sex marriages contracted in other states.

The signing of the new text comes after the adoption of the RFMA in the Senate – on November 29, 2022 – and the House of Representatives on December 7. Two elections during which the rallying, in both chambers, of many members of the Republican Party, was decisive for the adoption of the project. Proof that the Grand Old Party is far from assuming the conservative aspect attributed to it on all social issues.

For her part, the Speaker of the House, the progressive Nancy Pelosi, who, like Joe Biden, claims to be Catholic, did not hide her joy, describing the signing as “a glorious moment of triumph for the love of freedom and dignity for all,” while Chuck Schumer, Senate Majority Leader exclaimed in a mystical impulse: “O my God, we have succeeded.”

The tone is far from being the same, one imagines, within the Catholic hierarchy. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, did not hide his concern: “The new law risks encouraging legal discrimination of priests and faithful, and more broadly of all Americans attached to the traditional meaning of marriage.”

These fears were confirmed during the vote of the RFMA in the House, since the Democrats succeeded in blocking the amendment presented by the Republican representative Chip Roy, which asked to include in the law explicit guarantees to protect the religious freedom of non-profit organizations - even ministers of religion – who would refuse to offer their services within the framework of a same-sex marriage.