Washington — The American Psychological Association applauded Congress for passing the Respect for Marriage Act, noting that psychological science supports marriage equality.
“The American Psychological Association is gratified that Congress has passed a bill that will codify marriage equality for all Americans, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or race,” said APA President Frank C. Worrell, PhD. “APA has long been a strong advocate for marriage equality, based on the psychological research indicating that marriage provides substantial psychological and physical health benefits due to the moral, economic and social support extended to married couples. Conversely, empirical evidence has illustrated the harmful psychological effect of policies restricting marriage rights, particularly for same-sex couples.”
APA has supported full equal rights for LGBTQ people for more than 35 years, based on the social science research on sexual orientation. APA has supported legal benefits for same-sex couples since 1997 and civil marriage for same-sex couples since 2004. APA has adopted policy statements, lobbied Congress in opposition to the Defense of Marriage Act and the Federal Marriage Amendment, and filed amicus briefs supporting same-sex marriage in lawsuits in Oregon, Washington, New Jersey, New York (three times), Maryland, Connecticut, Iowa, New Mexico and California. In California, the APA brief was cited by the state Supreme Court when it ruled that same-sex marriage was legal in May 2008. APA also submitted a brief when that case (Hollingsworth v. Perry) reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013. In addition, APA filed briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court cases challenging the Defense of Marriage Act (U.S. v. Windsor) and in Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage in the United States.
The Respect for Marriage Act, once signed, will require that people be considered married in any state as long as their marriage was valid in the state where it was performed. The measure also repeals the Defense of Marriage Act, passed in 1996, which defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman and allowed states to decline to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. That law remained on the books despite being declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges.