President Joe Biden signed into law on Tuesday Law respecting marriageformally repealing previous federal law that sought to exclude the LGBTQ community and providing a failsafe if the Supreme Court’s right-wing majority does to marriage equality and interracial marriage what it did to abortion rights. “Today is a good day — a day when America takes a vital step toward equality,” Biden said at a signing ceremony at the White House. “The road to this moment has been long, but those who believe in equality and justice, you never give up,” he added. Before the event, Biden use Twitter to call the legislation “a landmark civil rights bill that honors the courage and sacrifice of generations of couples who fought for marriage equality and equal rights.” “If there’s one message that comes out of today, it’s that this law — and the love it stands for — strikes against hate in all its forms,” Biden said. he said. Hundreds of LGBTQ activists, supporters and entertainers were on hand at the White House to witness the bill become law – a rare moment of celebration for a community that has found the target of political vitriol and deadly attacks in 2022, angering activists and drag queens similarly. “It’s just a huge honor to be included among the people who are here to celebrate this victory for our community,” New York drag artist and activist Marti Cummings told BuzzFeed News. Among those invited to the occasion were also Andrew Hartzleran openly gay man who went viral last week when he spoke out against his aunt, Missouri Republican Rep. Vicki Hartzler, when she used a speech on the House floor to tearfully — and unsuccessfully — implore her colleagues to vote against the bill. “I immediately started crying because it was so surreal,” Andrew said of the moment he received his invitation last weekend. “It’s really an honor. It says a lot about the power of your own voice and standing up for what you believe – or what you know – to be the truth and how far it will really take you.” The new law would guarantee that the federal government would recognize marriages for same-sex and interracial couples should the nation’s highest court try to loosen civil rights case law — something LGBTQ activists feared it might happen when Justice Clarence Thomas used the court’s ruling overturning abortion rights to call for past cases marriage equality and contraception will be reviewed later. Congress cannot require states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples because the U.S. Constitution gives states, not the federal government, the power to determine who can marry. But if the Supreme Court is overturned Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 case that barred states from discriminating against same-sex couples in marriage, this new law means the federal government will still recognize such marriages. States may once again outlaw marriage equality, but they will still have to recognize the marriages of same-sex couples legally solemnized elsewhere. It also formally repeals the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, a 1996 law that first denied federal rights and benefits to same-sex couples. “With the stroke of the president’s pen, the fundamental right to marry the person you love is enshrined in law,” outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi told those at the White House on Tuesday before the signing. “I was overcome with emotion to bring the gavel down on this legislation.” “Everyone deserves to enjoy the magical blessing of building a union with the person you love,” she added.
