🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
A White House official warned Tuesday that additional steps are needed to safeguard marriage equality and the LGBTQ community as President Joe Biden signed legislation aimed at protecting same-sex and interracial marriages.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked during a press briefing on Tuesday if there were any concerns about potential challenges to marriage equality in the signing of the Respect for Marriage Act.
Jean-Pierre responded that the legislation is an "important civil rights accomplishment" that "will build on generations of civil rights advocacy that brought us to this historic moment." The Respect for Marriage Act recently passed both the House and Senate with some bipartisan support.
"We understand in spite of this important legislation, it is also true that there are extremist conservatives who appear bent on taking away fundamental rights, including marriage equality," Jean-Pierre said.
She stated that legal attacks on marriage equality will continue even with the Respect for Marriage Act in place, and that there is more work to be done on behalf of the LGBTQ community.
The 2015 Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges legalized same-sex marriage across the U.S. The Respect for Marriage Act would not guarantee that same-sex and interracial marriages remain legal nationwide if Obergefell gets overturned—the decision on legality would go back to the states in this instance—but it would require states to recognize marriages performed in other states. It also repeals the Defense of Marriage Act, which stipulated that marriage could only be a union between a man and woman and permitted states to refrain from recognizing same-sex marriages performed and recognized in other states.
Fears that Obergefell v. Hodges could be overturned grew after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in June, rolling back federal protections for abortion rights. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas issued a concurring opinion at the time suggesting that the court should reconsider Obergefell and other substantive due- process precedents.
Biden addressed the remaining concerns about the future of marriage equality, including those centered on the opinion from Thomas, during a signing ceremony Tuesday for the Respect for Marriage Act on the White House South Lawn.
"Sadly, we must also acknowledge the other reason we're here. Congress is acting because an extreme Supreme Court has stripped away the right important to millions of Americans that existed for half a century," Biden said of the Roe decision.
He also applauded efforts to pass the Equality Act, which is aimed at prohibiting discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation and gender identity in certain spheres, as well as what the Respect for Marriage Act will accomplish upon its enactment.
"There's nothing more decent, more dignified, more American [than] what we're doing here today," Biden said. "It's about who we are as a nation. It's about the substance of our laws. It's about being true to the best of the soul of America."
Newsweek has reached out to the White House for comment.
About the writer
Zoe Strozewski is a Newsweek reporter based in New Jersey. Her focus is reporting on U.S. and global politics. Zoe ... Read more