The U.S. Senate has taken a major step toward protecting same-sex and interracial marriage by advancing a landmark bill that would rightfully recognize the legality of such marriages in every state in the nation.
The bill would not force states without same-sex laws to permit such unions, but it would require that all states recognize the legality of marriages performed in other states.
The bill also would repeal the indefensible Defense of Marriage Act, which passed in 1996 and codified marriage as only the union of one man and one woman. Later found unconstitutional, DOMA also gave states the right to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.
