WASHINGTON, D.C. (CNN) – In a historic milestone at the White House Tuesday, President Biden is expected to sign the bipartisan Respect for Marriage Act on the South Lawn.
It’s a bill that protects the rights of Americans in same-sex and interracial marriages.
There were concerns following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade back in June.
Biden said, “From day one, this has been the most pro-equality administration in history.” But this wasn’t always his position.
As a senator, Biden had voted to block federal recognition of same-sex marriages, and for years, said that marriage should take place, between a man and a woman.
He said, “We already have a law, the Defense of Marriage Act. We all voted, or I voted, and others, said, ‘Look, marriage is between a man and a woman, and states must respect that.’”
But then, in May of 2012, then-Vice President Biden rocked the country with a now-famous interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Biden was asked: “And you’re comfortable with same-sex marriage now?”
He replied, “I am Vice President of the United States of America. The president sets the policy. I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties.”
Those comments, which Biden subsequently described as unplanned, marked the first time he had publicly expressed support for same-sex marriage and clarified his years-long, personal evolution on the issue, prompting then-President Barack Obama, to stake out the same position, several days later.
Biden said, “Now Justice Thomas said as much today. He explicitly called to reconsider the right of marriage equality, the right of couples to make their choices on contraception.”
Advocates of same-sex marriage celebrated the passage of the bill as a crucial milestone in American history.
The bill made it through the house with 39 Republicans joining forces with Democrats.
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