Respect for Marriage Act

The Respect for Marriage Act, abbreviated as RFMA (H.R. 2523, S. 1236), was a proposed bill in the United States Congress that would have repealed the Defense of Marriage Act and required the U.S. federal government to recognize the validity of same-sex marriages. It was supported by former U.S. Representative Bob Barr, original sponsor of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), and former President Bill Clinton, who signed DOMA in 1996. The administration of President Barack Obama also supported RFMA.

Having been introduced in several previous Congresses, the last version of the proposal was put forth in the 114th Congress in both the House and the Senate in January 2015. Senator Dianne Feinstein of California remarked that this Congress must "ensure that married, same-sex couples are treated equally under federal law".

On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that the 14th Amendment requires all U.S. states to recognize same-sex marriages. This decision rendered the last remaining provision of DOMA unenforceable, making it unnecessary to continue legislative efforts to repeal DOMA. The Respect for Marriage Act would now only remove the unenforceable provisions from the statutes.

Until 1996, the federal government of the United States customarily recognized marriages conducted legally in any state for the purpose of federal legislation. Following an unsuccessful lawsuit aimed at legalizing same-sex marriage in Hawaii, the United States Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act, one section of which forbids the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages.

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