{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://cleaver.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rep-cleaver-votes-protect-marriage-equality-celebrates-passage-respect", "Rep. Cleaver Votes to Protect Marriage Equality, Celebrates Passage of Respect for Marriage Act", "2022-12-08", "2022", "2022-12", "Democrat", "House", "MO", "Emanuel Cleaver", "C001061", "cleaver.house.gov", "cleaver", "https://cleaver.house.gov/media-center/press-releases", "scraper", "(Washington, D.C.) \u2013 Today, U.S. Representative Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-MO) voted in favor of H.R. 8404, the Respect for Marriage Act, to codify protections for marriage equality into federal law. The Respect for Marriage Act will repeal the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act, protect marriage equality for federal purposes, and provide additional protections at the state level for interracial and LGBTQ+ marriages.\n\n\u201cAs a pastor for more than 4 decades, I\u2019ve been fortunate enough to officiate numerous weddings, where I have enjoyed a front row seat to the beautiful moment when two individuals make the decision to join together for life. In that moment, regardless of race or religion or sexual orientation, I see the extraordinary love that binds two people, two families, and an entire community together. Today, I am prodigiously proud to have helped pass the Respect for Marriage Act, ensuring that interracial and same-sex couples will not have to live in fear of the future and demonstrating to the entire world that the United States remains a beacon of freedom thanks to our commitment to equality and human rights. Love is love\u2014and in the end, love always wins,\u201d said Congressman Cleaver.\n\nFollowing Justice Clarence Thomas\u2019 suggestion that the Supreme Court should revisit the Obergefell decision after striking down the 50-year-old Roe v. Wade ruling, Rep. Cleaver and Democrats in Congress immediately began working to enshrine protections for marriage equality into federal law. The Respect for Marriage Act would do this by:\n\nRepealing the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which was rendered inert by the Supreme Court\u2019s marriage equality decisions but still remains in the U.S. code and could be revived if the Supreme Court overrules previous decisions as they did with the Dobbs ruling;\n\nProtecting marriage equality for federal purposes by ensuring that people are considered married if the marriage was valid in the state where it was performed; and\n\nProviding additional protections at the state level by prohibiting any person acting under the color of state law from denying full faith and credit to an out of state marriage based on the sex, race, ethnicity, or national origin of the people in the marriage.\n\nOfficial text of the Respect for Marriage Act is available here.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T03:32:05Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://cleaver.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rep-cleaver-votes-protect-marriage-equality-celebrates-passage-respect"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4471630565822124, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}