Bill Protecting Same-Sex, Interracial Unions Clears Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has given final approval to protections for same-sex marriages.

The vote Thursday sends the legislation to President Joe Biden, a monumental step in a decades-long battle for nationwide recognition of such unions. The law requires all states to recognize same-sex marriages, a relief for hundreds of thousands of couples who have married since the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision legalizing the marriages.

The bipartisan legislation would also protect interracial unions by requiring states to recognize legal marriages regardless of “sex, race, ethnicity, or national origin.”

Biden says he’ll promptly sign the measure into law.