Joe Biden signed on Tuesday at the White House, in front of thousands of guests, a law protecting same-sex marriage throughout the United States.
By promulgating this text, the American president welcomed
“a crucial step towards equality, freedom and justice, not only for a few but for everyone”.
This is a special moment for the American president, who, ten years ago, had made an impression by publicly saying he was in favor of marriage for all when he was Barack Obama's vice-president.
Joe Biden invited, in the gardens of the White House,
“a group of parliamentarians”
from the Democratic Party and the Republican opposition, as well as
“activists and people who have initiated legal proceedings on marriage for all”
in the country, said his spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre on Monday.
Guests from the world of music and entertainment were also present.
"Tranquility"
This law will
"bring peace of mind to the millions of LGBTQI + and interethnic couples who now have the rights and protections due to them and their children"
, said Karine Jean-Pierre, who is also the first woman black and lesbian to be spokesperson for the White House.
Same-sex unions have been guaranteed by the U.S. Supreme Court since 2015. But after the high court's historic flip-flop on abortion in June, many progressives fear that right may be unraveled too. .
The law enacted on Tuesday repeals previous laws defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
And prohibited to civil registrars - whatever the
“by reason of their sex, race, ethnicity or origin”.
It was passed in Congress by all elected Democrats and 39 Republicans, while 169 members of the Conservative Party opposed it.
A large majority of Americans support same-sex marriage, including in the Republican ranks.
But the religious right remains mostly opposed to it.
Karine Jean-Pierre recalled Monday that the American president had been one of the first political leaders to support, at the top of the State, homosexual marriage.
In 2012, Joe Biden was vice president.
And he had in a way grilled the politeness of Barack Obama by publicly saying that he was in favor of marriage for all, while the White House was still looking for the best way to formalize the position of the Democratic president,
Read alsoThe Supreme Court of the United States repeals the constitutional right to abortion
“It's a simple question: who do you love? Who do you love and will you be faithful to the person you love
,” Joe Biden said in a highly commented television interview.
"I don't have the slightest problem with men marrying men and women marrying women with exactly the same rights as men marrying women"
, he said.
Once in the White House, the 80-year-old Democrat had chosen Pete Buttigieg as Minister of Transport, who became the first openly homosexual person confirmed at this level of responsibility by the Senate.
Joe Biden has also launched American passports allowing you to declare your gender "X", and not just "H" (man) or "F" (woman).
He also lifted Donald Trump's ban on transgender people serving in the military.
