Joe Biden's Signing of the Respect for Marriage Act Becomes A Turning Point in the Fight for LGBTQ+ Rights

These days, the debate over same-sex marriage has grown worldwide. Some people strongly dissent over queer marriage policies, while others keenly consent to. Nevertheless, in 2022, on December 13th, Joe Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act, allowing homosexual people to be relieved of their love. The Respect for Marriage Act recognizes same-sex marriage. While it can not stop individual states to prohibit same-sex marriage, it requires all states to federally recognize these marriages even if they happened in different states. The signing of the Act is an unconventional bill that has given a great shock to the world and stirred up a contentious confrontation between people in America.

In the early stages, most people either dissented from the bill's passage or felt awkward with the new policy. Nevertheless, Americans slowly realized their close friends; family members also happened to be part of the LGBTQ+. Regardless of their political parties, there were many gay people among Democrats and Republicans. Even the high-profile homosexual woman in the country was the daughter of the Republican vice president. In addition, two years ago, when renowned homosexual man Pete Buttigieg ran a campaign to be the Democratic presidential candidate, nobody cared about his sexuality. Concerning this phenomenon, it was clear that public support of gay marriage has steadily increased from 27 percent to 71 percent.

While the support base for same-sex marriage proliferated throughout the states, the campaigners targeted patriotic homosexual Americans. Rather than presenting the LGBTQ+ right as an ordinary revolutionary movement, they have accentuated the commitment to an institution favored by the conservatives, asking for the right to marry and join the army without considering their sexuality. Therefore, myriad patriotic homosexual people wanted to participate in America’s mainstream.

Nevertheless, the passage of the same-sex marriage law was not fully endorsed by the public. The conservative backlash over gender issues has further developed as a form of physical violence. In November, five people were gunned down at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs due to hatred towards homosexual people.

To prevent such crises, Joe Biden has criticized the Republicans for passing a “callous and cynical” law aimed at transgender, homosexual people. He proclaimed the government would assure their safety and protection from violence and the opposing sides. He congregated the value of racism, antisemitism, homophobia, and transphobia and asserted they are all connected, hence the only solution for this social upheaval is by embracing the opponents with love which all applies to different values of conflict.

The population of the president eminently rose, after the passage of the bill. Just over 25 years ago, the preponderance of Americans said marriage between the same sex was unacceptable and should not be recognized by law. However, Joe Biden became the person who deteriorated the conventional prejudices and declared a law bill ahead of time. He has been acknowledged as the “most pro-equality” president in American history and became the highest-ranking U.S. official to endorse the same-sex-marriage.

However, as same-sex marriage has now become legal, the state's recognition of the aforementioned bill differed. In states where same-sex marriage is legal, the federal government recognized these unions. However, in the case of the states which illegalized same-sex marriage did not permit it. The government accepted diversity and individualism only if each state promised not to interfere with their realm. Therefore, the relationship between the political population and the specific groups of people is observed, forming a win-win for both sides. The political parties can take a step further with their policies to break the traditional norm and demonstrate unexpected prospects for the country. This might be a chance determination as people are inclined to show hostility to the new policies. Still, Biden's case has explicitly apprised the benefits of supporting neglected groups of people. Rather than antagonizing the entire nation, Biden has gained many adherents by risk-tasking.