The U.S. Senate Wednesday afternoon voted to end a filibuster on a critical bill to protect same-sex and interracial marriages by a margin of 62-37.
All 50 Democratic Senators were joined by 12 Republicans in voting yes, and 37 Republicans voted no. 60 votes were needed to avoid a GOP filibuster.
The Respect for Marriage Act itself is both narrow and incredible in that it changes nothing in the U.S. unless the Supreme Court overturns landmark rulings in cases like Obergefell, which found same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry, or Lawrence v.
Texas, which found a constitutional right to sexual intimacy. READ MORE: Franklin Graham’s Extremely False Claims About the Senate’s Same-Sex Marriage Protection Bill Are Riling Up His Base Should that happen, states and the federal government, if the bill becomes law, would merely be required to recognize legal marriages of same-sex couples.