Landmark same-sex marriage bill wins Senate passage

The Senate passed bipartisan legislation Tuesday to protect same-sex marriages. The bill was approved 61-36, including support from 12 Republicans and it would be a major victory for Democrats. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the legislation was “a long time coming” and part of America’s “difficult but inexorable march towards greater equality.”

The legislation would not force any state to allow same-sex couples to marry. But it would require states to recognize all marriages that were legal where they were performed, and protect current same-sex unions, if the court's 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision were to be overturned. The bill would also protect interracial marriages by requiring states to recognize legal marriages regardless of “sex, race, ethnicity or national origin.”