BACKGROUNDER: As Senate Prepares for Vote on Bipartisan 'Respect for Marriage Act', Pennsylvanians are Mobilizing in Support, Urging Sen. Toomey to Vote in Favor

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania - July 27, 2022 - As the U.S. Senate prepares for a vote on the Respect for Marriage Act, Pennsylvanians in communities across the state are mobilizing to urge Sen. Pat Toomey to vote in support of the bill. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is activating a grassroots army of 3.1 million members, volunteers, and supporters nationwide to mobilize voters in states across the country, including the more than 3,006,825 Equality Voters in Pennsylvania - who are among the more than 62 million Equality Voters in the nation made up of LGBTQ+ people and allies who prioritize LGBTQ+ equality at the ballot box. HRC has maintained a full-time, on-the-ground staff in Pennsylvania for several years, building coalitions, mobilizing around elections, and training a highly-engaged grassroots network.

Pennsylvania Voters are Mobilizing in Support of 'Respect for Marriage' Act.

• In recent days, voters have made over 375 calls and sent 2,294 letters to Sen. Toomey urging him to pass this important legislation.

More Than Two-Thirds of Pennsylvanians Support Same-Sex Marriage.

• 69% of Pennsylvania residents favor same sex marriage, according to a 2022 PRRI survey.

Senator Toomey is Undecided, Despite Overwhelming Support Among Pennsylvanians.

• Sen. Toomey: When asked if he would support the bill, Senator Toomey expressed that he had not yet decided, "I just haven't looked at it, haven't thought about it… I won't comment on it until I've taken a look at the legislation."

Pennsylvania Has Been Home to Long-Time Champions for Marriage Equality.

• Pennsylvania legalized same-sex marriage in 2014, when a federal judge overturned the state's ban on same-sex marriage.
• The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published an editorial in 2021 calling on the Supreme Court to allow the Obergefell decision to stand, stating that "same-sex couple have a right to pursue their happiness and have legal protections for their relationships."
• Pennsylvania has seen a consistent increase in support of same-sex marriage since 2015. In 2015, 55% of Pennsylvanians were in favor of marriage equality and by 2022 a staggering 69% are in favor.

More Than Two-Thirds of Americans Support Marriage Equality.

• According to Gallup, 71% of Americans support marriage for same-sex couples. The latest survey from PRRI this year found that support for marriage equality has increased by 14 percentage points since 2014 (54%). Republicans are now nearly evenly divided over marriage equality (48% support, 50% oppose), while 81% of Democrats and 73% of independents favor marriage equality. Today, majorities of most religious groups favor marriage equality. White evangelical Protestants (35%) and Latter-day Saints (46%) remain the only major religious groups with less than majority support for marriage equality. According to the last Census, about 58% (568,000) of couples in the nation's 980,000 same-sex households were married and about 42% were unmarried partners.

Key Provisions of the Bill

The Respect for Marriage Act would ensure that marriage equality is protected nationally through several provisions:

• Repealing the 1990s era Defense of Marriage Act. Passed in 1996, it discriminated in two important ways. First, Section 2 of DOMA purports to allow states to refuse to recognize valid civil marriages of same-sex couples. Second, Section 3 of the law carves all same-sex couples, regardless of their marital status, out of all federal statutes, regulations and rulings applicable to all other married people - thereby denying them over 1,100 federal benefits and protections. DOMA was rendered unenforceable, in two stages, by the Supreme Court's 2013 Windsor v. United States ruling and the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling.
• Establishing that "place of celebration" is the standard of recognition for federal benefits of a same-sex marriage. Under this provision, if marriage equality was ever to cease to be recognized in a given state, same-sex couples who travel to get married in another state - one where same-sex marriages are still recognized - would still retain federal marriage benefits.
• Affirming that public acts, records and proceedings should be recognized by all states. Adoption orders, divorce decrees, and other public acts must be honored by all states consistent with the Full Faith and Credit clause of the US Constitution.
• Codifying the federal protections conferred by the Obergefell and Windsor rulings. The landmark ruling stated that bans on marriage equality are unconstitutional.

The Human Rights Campaign is America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ+ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.