Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Legislation To Protect Marriage Equality

Washington, D.C. –  Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on the Senate continuing work to codify marriage equality into law. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks:

Off the Senate floor, my colleagues continue to have good conversations on very important legislation to codify marriage equality into law.

Far from being a theoretical exercise, codifying marriage equality would have a dramatic long-term impact on millions of people. At a time when our rights are under siege, it would be a much-needed shield for scores of Americans at risk of discrimination simply because of who they love.

For many of us in this chamber—myself included—passing marriage equality would hit home in a very personal way.

I want to thank my colleagues from both sides of the aisle—especially Senators Baldwin, Collins, and Sinema—for all the work they’re doing to build support for marriage equality legislation. Over the past several months, I have given them the time and space they have requested to have these talks, because I want their efforts to succeed. I know their work is not yet done and I encourage them to keep going.

I truly hope – for the sake of tens of millions of Americans - that there will be at least ten Republicans who will vote with us to pass this very important bill.

We cannot forget that a mere decade ago, a mere decade ago, marriage discrimination was the law in much of the country. While we’re happy that America has made a lot of progress since then, we are not naive in thinking we can’t go backwards. As we saw earlier this year, it took the Supreme Court just a few weeks to unravel decades of vital precedent on women’s rights, gun safety, and environmental protection.

And, of course, Justice Thomas has opened the door for the Court to go even further backward when he’s saying that cases like Obergefell—which protect marriage equality for now—should be revisited.

So when some Republicans say, oh, this is unnecessary, it won't happen, remember that’s the same thing they said about Roe, and look at where we are today. We should protect marriage equality now, well before the MAGA-controlled Supreme Court steps in.

So I encourage my colleagues to continue these conversations. The American people support protecting marriage rights of same-sex marriages by a large margin, so let’s get it done.

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