Tuesday is supposed to be a good day. President Joe Biden is expected to sign the Respect for Marriage Act into law, making it illegal for any state to invalidate, repeal or negate the legal marriages of same-sex or interracial couples. No doubt the ceremony itself will all be smiles and hugs. Still, as Biden acknowledged in the White House statement, the bill is only necessary because of "the uncertainty caused by the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision," which reversed Roe v. Wade, in which Justice Clarence Thomas openly invited the right to challenge Obergefell v. Hodges and give the court a chance to destroy the national right to same-sex marriage.
The media coverage of the bill largely framed it as a sign of social progress, focusing on how a strong majority of Americans (71%, according to Gallup) support same-sex marriage. This included glowing coverage of the minority of Republicans who voted for the bill, which threatened to eclipse the real story, which is that the majority of Republicans in Congress very much voted against it. The religious right, which still controls the Republican party, has not given up on its mission to repeal hard-won gay rights and make homophobia the social norm again. On the contrary, this past week's news cycle underscores how, if anything, the Republican backlash against LGBTQ people is only getting nastier, despite strong evidence that such rhetoric is contributing to an atmosphere of violence and hate crimes.
