It was a momentous day at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. this past Tuesday, Dec. 13, as President Biden signed into law the gay marriage legislation Congress passed last week. The politicians and leaders overlooking the president included Vice President Kamala Harris, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY and Senator Cory Booker, D-NJ, among many others. 

“This law and the love it defends strike a blow against hate in all its forms. And that’s why this law matters to every single American,” said Biden on the South Lawn of the White House. 

The new law is guaranteed to safeguard the rights granted to gay couples in the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court case, Obergefell v. Hodges, and the 1967 case, Loving v. Virginia, when interracial marriage was legalized. 

A decade ago, then Vice President Biden ignited political uproar when he officially stated that he supported gay rights before President Obama did. Obama released a statement three days after Biden’s announcement, stating he supported gay rights as well. Now, according to a Gallup Poll, a record 71% of Americans think marriages between same-sex couples should be recognized under the law, increasing over 20% from just 10 years ago. 

“What this is all about is a simple proposition: Who do you love? Who do you love and will you be loyal to the person you love?” said Biden, a decade ago, on NBC’s “Meet the Press”. 

Yet, now, 10 years later, there was bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate as the bill passed with majorities, a rare occurrence unseen on other bills in this time of polarization. 

“Thanks to the millions out there who spent years pushing for change, and thanks to the dogged work of my colleagues, my grandchild will get to live in a world that respects and honors their mothers’ marriage,” said Schumer, whose daughter was married last year. 

With the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade this past summer, lawmakers and activists have taken the issue to heart by ensuring that the conservative Supreme Court cannot overturn gay and interracial marriage. While a majority of Republicans in the House voted against the legislation, the bill successfully achieved the 60-vote threshold in the Senate to bypass a filibuster. 

“Basically this law was put into place if the Obergefell case was ever overturned. There are justices on the Supreme Court that have indicated that there are parts of the Obergefell case that might need to be reviewed by the court again and Congress took action to ensure that same-sex and interracial marriage would stay legal,” said government teacher Emma Anderson. 

Additionally, following the recent Club Q shooting, where five people were killed at a gay nightclub in Colorado last month, the growing rate of hate crimes has frighteningly threatened gay rights. 

“Essentially, under this law, if a same-sex couple got married in a blue state like Illinois or even a red state like Wyoming, all of these marriages would need to be recognized,” said Anderson. 

The White House was lit with rainbow colors following the president’s signing of the bill into law to show support to the LGBTQ+ community, just as President Obama did following the Obergefell v. Hodges case in 2015.