United States: Joe Biden signs a law to protect same-sex marriage

“Love is love”: Joe Biden, who had long embraced the cause of same-sex marriage, signed on Tuesday at the White House, in front of thousands of guests and in a festive atmosphere, a text to protect the same-sex marriage throughout the United States.

By promulgating this law, the American president hailed “a crucial step towards equality, freedom and justice, not only for a few but for all”. It was a special moment for the American president, who made a splash in 2012 by publicly saying he was in favor of marriage for all while he was Barack Obama’s vice president.

It was also the one for Vice President Kamala Harris and the patron of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, also present, who has also long been involved in defending the rights of LGBT+ people.

The law “is a blow to hate in all its forms,” ​​said the 80-year-old Democrat, his favorite sunglasses on his nose, in the cold and the sun. “It is one thing when the Supreme Court pronounces judgment, it is quite another when the elected representatives of the people vote in Congress to say loud and clear: love is love,” he said to the applause of a crowd of 5,300. there were no way cooled by the freezing temperatures.

This expression has become an emblematic slogan of the struggle for same-sex marriage. The president then sat down to sign the text. As he handed his pen in thanks to Kamala Harris, a Lady Gaga hit, “Born this way” (“Born like that”), blared as the White House lit up in rainbow colors .

The decidedly festive ceremony mixed an appearance by Cindy Lauper for her song “True Colours” with the testimony of two lesbians, Gina and Heidi Nortonsmith, who carried out a pioneering court fight to have their union recognized and their family. .

The moment was also, of course, political: Joe Biden was seen embracing Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, an openly gay prime minister never confirmed by the US Senate, and chatting with bisexual Senator Kyrsten Sinema – who just slammed the door of the Democratic Party.

Same-sex unions have been guaranteed by the US Supreme Court since 2015. But after the historic overturning of the High Court on abortion in June, many progressives fear that right too could be unraveled.

The law passed on Tuesday repeals previous laws that defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman. And it prohibits registrars – regardless of the state in which they work – from discriminating against couples “on the basis of their sex, race, ethnicity or origin”. It was passed in Congress by all elected Democrats and 39 Republicans, while 169 conservative party members opposed it.

The vast majority of Americans support same-sex marriage, even in Republican ranks. But the religious right remains mostly against it. The White House insisted that the American president had been one of the first political leaders to support same-sex marriage at the top of the state. Up to broadcasting, during the signing ceremony, a famous passage from a television interview with Joe Biden, then vice president, in 2012.

He had then, in a sense, irritated the kindness of Barack Obama by publicly declaring himself in favor of same-sex marriage, while the White House was still looking for the best way to formalize the position of the Democratic president, who then launched his campaign for a second term. “It’s a simple question: who do you love? Who do you love and will you be faithful to the person you love? said Joe Biden, who resumed exactly the same formula on Tuesday, closing the circle.