WASHINGTON: The US Congress passed landmark legislation on Thursday to protect same-sex marriage under federal law, and President Joe Biden vowed to quickly sign the measure.

The vote in the House of Representatives saw 39 Republicans join a united Democratic majority in a rare show of bipartisanship, provoking loud cheers on the floor less than 10 days after the Senate passed the same bill.

“Today, Congress took a critical step to ensure that Americans have the right to marry the person they love,” Biden said in a statement.

He said the bipartisan vote would “give peace of mind to millions of LGBTQI+ and inter-racial couples who are now guaranteed the rights and protections to which they and their children are entitled.”

The conservative-led Supreme Court overturned long-standing abortion rights in June, prompting lawmakers of both parties to move to prevent the court from taking away same-sex marriage rights, as some feared it might do.

The House had earlier approved legislation similar to the Senate’s, but needed Thursday’s vote to reconcile minor differences.

Biden has dubbed marriage equality one of his legislative priorities and has said he will “promptly and prou­dly” sign the bill into law.

Democrats and others saluted the historic vote.

“I began my career fighting for LGBTQ communities,” outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted on Thursday, “and now, one of the final bills that I will sign as Speaker will ensure the federal government never again stands in the way of marrying the person you love.”

The new legislation, known as the Respect for Marriage Act, does not require states to legalise same-sex marriage, but does require them to recognise a marriage so long as it was valid in the state where it was performed.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2022