Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has voted NO to advancing the Respect for Marriage Act, which would protect his own interracial marriage to Elaine Chao under federal law

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has voted NO to advancing the Respect for Marriage Act, which would protect his own interracial marriage to Elaine Chao under federal law.

The Senate on Wednesday advanced legislation that would provide federal protections for same-sex and interracial marriages, endorsing the measure in a bipartisan vote that moves it closer to becoming law.

The 62 to 37 vote was a crucial test of support for the bill, called the Respect for Marriage Act. With the backing of 12 Republican members, the Senate easily cleared the 60-vote procedural hurdle needed to move the legislation forward. Drafters of the plan were optimistic it would garner enough backing from the GOP after a bipartisan group of senators made changes to the bill to protect religious liberty.

The Republicans who voted to advance the bill are: 

Roy Blunt of Missouri

Richard Burr of North Carolina

Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia

Susan Collins of Maine

Joni Ernst of Iowa

Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming 

Lisa Murkowski of Alaska 

Rob Portman of Ohio 

Mitt Romney of Utah

Dan Sullivan of Alaska

Thom Tillis of North Carolina  

Todd Young of Indiana

Shortly after the five senators involved in negotiations over the legislation unveiled their amendment Monday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer moved to set up Wednesday's procedural vote. Clearing the 60-vote threshold allows debate to start on the measure and puts the legislation closer to final passage.

"Today, the Senate is taking a truly bold step forward in the march toward greater justice, greater equality, by advancing the Respect for Marriage Act," Schumer said in a speech from the Senate floor before the vote. "It's a simple, narrowly tailored but exceedingly important piece of legislation that will do so much good for so many Americans. It will make our country a better, fairer place to live."

Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican who was among the group of Senate negotiators, highlighted the broad public support for same-sex marriage and noted that for most Americans, marriage equality is a settled question.

"We've shown here through this legislation that these rights can coexist, religious freedom on the one hand, LGBTQ on the other hand," Portman said. "It is my hope that with the changes we've talked about today and we've all now agreed to, we can pass this legislation with the same kind of overwhelming bipartisan majority we saw in the Houses of Representatives and therefore settle this issue once and for all."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has voted NO to advancing the Respect for Marriage Act, which would protect his own interracial marriage to Elaine Chao under federal law.

The Respect for Marriage Act, a bill that overturns the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act and forces states without marriage equality laws to honor marriages from other states, is on track to become law. The House passed a version the bill in July. The amended Senate version is expected to pass through the House again on Friday before heading to President Joe Biden, who has vowed to sign it.

The bill has bipartisan backing from lawmakers. Democratic Sens. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona joined Republicans , Susan Collins of Maine, Rob Portman of Ohio and Thom Tillis of North Carolina in sponsoring the measure, promising that it would leave religious freedom intact.

Advocates have been anxious to see the bill’s passage since the Supreme Court struck down federal abortion rights in June, exposing a slew of civil rights precedents, including the landmark 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision on marriage equality. The Respect for Marriage Act was drafted as a stop-gap measure in the event that the court struck down the Obergefell decision. It is also intended to protect interracial marriages from state-to-state should the court reverse its 1967 Loving v. Virginia decision, a move experts say is less likely but still possible given the court’s Dobbs ruling.

Once signed, the Respect for Marriage Act will become the most substantial pro-LGBTQ+ rights law enacted by Congress. Still, the bill does not guarantee marriage equality nationwide. Instead, it makes same-sex marriages portable from state to state, forcing states without equal marriage laws to honor out-of-state unions. The federal government will also be required to recognize marriages regardless of gender. But states that did not pass their own queer marriage laws could still ban marriage equality if the Supreme Court were to overturn its Obergefell decision. Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito have signaled that they are open to the idea of overturning Obergefell.

Congress has historically failed to pass almost every piece of queer rights legislation brought before it, including the Equality Act, nationwide anti-discrimination protections in housing, public accommodations and education.

The legislature has not passed a queer rights bill since the 2009 Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which increased punishment for crimes motivated by sexual orientation and gender identity. While significant at the time, LGBTQ+ advocates have since expressed mixed feelings on hate crime laws, as studies suggest they are disproportionately used to incarcerate people of color and may do little to prevent violence.

Jennifer Pizer, chief legal officer of the LGBTQ+ rights organization Lambda Legal, said the court’s June Dobbs decision overturning abortion rights profoundly shifted the landscape, not just for LGBTQ+ marriages but the Supreme Court decisions that guaranteed interracial marriage rights, decriminalized queer relationships and made contraception legal.