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President Biden signed the Respect For Marriage Act into law, marking a key mile marker in the evolution of same-sex marriage views in the United States. Democrats had prioritized the bill after Roe v. Wade was overturned. It passed with bipartisan support. Straight Arrow News contributor Adrienne Lawrence says the new legislation is something to be celebrated but warns not to take the GOP’s involvement too seriously. She says the Respect for Marriage Act is not the end of the fight to protect the civil rights of gay Americans.
Today’s Supreme Court is gunning to undermine the advancements of the Warren court. From 1953 to 1969, Chief Judge Earl Warren ushered in a new era, a constitutional revolution that gave us the protections every democracy should enjoy. Warren did not wait for Congress to get it right. He rallied the court to bring our nation into the light, ensuring that the Founding Fathers’ vision actually extended to all regardless of gender, race and wealth.
Warren’s court gave us Brown v. Board of Education, Gideon v. Wainwright, Miranda v. Arizona. Warren’s court cut through the Founding Fathers’ hypocrisy. But today’s court, the one led by Chief Justice John Roberts, they’re on another mission.
Instead of expanding our civil rights, they want to take us back into the dark ages where inequity reigned. That’s why the 117th Congress came together, Republicans and Democrats, to pass the Respect for Marriage Act, because they know that our civil rights secured by Supreme Court precedent are vulnerable. They are. The current high court was strategically crafted by the right and our rights aren’t protected. But don’t get it twisted.
Just because the GOP jumped on board to protect gay and interracial marriage, that doesn’t mean that the right isn’t out to undermine our civil rights and to harm those most vulnerable in our society. For the GOP, the Respect for Marriage Act was nothing more than a concession to advance appearances. The right wants to appear reasonable to distract us from reality. That is that the right, which is about to control the House, is coming for our basic civil rights. Rolling back abortion was just the beginning.
Don’t let the Respect for Marriage Act make you think that the fight is over. If you want to control your own destiny, you need to pay attention.
