President Biden celebrated the signing of the respect for marriage act, Tuesday.
A measure that requires all states to recognize all marriages regardless of race, ethnicity or national origin. It won't require states to issue same sex marriage licenses.
The journey to get that license wasn't an easy one for Brendan Mahoney and Gordon Street.
"Go across the state line in California, we're married. Come to Arizona, no, we're not married,” said Brendan and Gordon, recalling their effort to get legally married.
Before the 2015 Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage, Brendan and Gordon traveled to California in 2008 after that state started to briefly issue same-sex marriage licenses. But they say they still couldn't file their taxes jointly and receive the many federal benefits of being a union.
When they were on an east coast vacation, they say, a rental car company didn't recognize their marriage, leaving them to pay for second driver.
“It certainly feels less than being a full citizen, I'm entitled to the same rights as any other American,” said Brendan.
As a senior policy advisor for former Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton, Brendan helped created an anti-discrimination policy aimed at protecting LGBTQ+ community members.
The new law is seen as a reaction to the supreme court overturning Roe V. Wade, and Justice Clarence Thomas called for marriage-related precedence to be reconsidered.
The legislation also aims at protecting interracial marriages.
“Heading into 2023 and we're still talking about interracial marriages and same sex marriage, you know, we're just happy, said Tyree.
Sarah Tyree is a vice president for the NAACP West Valley Branch.
She says when Roe V Wade was overturned, she feared same-sex marriages were in the crosshairs of the supreme court and possibly even more.
“I'm so thankful President Biden included interracial marriage in that as well, because there are some people that want to take away, and go back to the segregated view the country got easily,” she said.
Because the law doesn't require states to issue same sex marriage licenses…
Marriage equality advocates say they won't be letting their guard down in the fight to ensure equal rights for all.
