The House on Thursday gave final approval to legislation to mandate federal recognition for same-sex marriages, with a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers voting in favour of the measure in the waning days of the Democratic-led Congress.

With a vote of 258-169, the landmark legislation cleared Congress, sending it to President Biden to be signed into law and capping an improbable path for a measure that only months ago appeared to have little chance at enactment.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the tally triumphantly, banging the gavel repeatedly as if to applaud as members of the House cheered. It was the second time in five months that the House had taken up the Respect for Marriage Act.

Last summer, 47 House Republicans joined Democrats in support of the legislation, a level of Republican enthusiasm for same-sex marriage rights that surprised and delighted its supporters.

That set off an intensive effort among a bipartisan group of proponents in the Senate — boosted quietly by a coalition of influential Republican donors and operatives, some of them gay — to find the 10 Republican votes necessary in that chamber to move it forward.

In the Senate, the legislation was revised to address concerns among some Republicans that it would punish or restrict the religious freedom of institutions that refuse to recognise same-sex marriages.

That version passed last month, forcing it back to the House for a second vote to approve the changes. But the revisions appeared to have failed to build support for the bill among Republicans in the House; on Thursday, fewer Republicans supported it than in July.

The push to pass the legislation began after Justice Clarence Thomas suggested in his opinion in the June ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, which had established a constitutional right to abortion, that the court also “should reconsider” precedents enshrining marriage equality and access to contraception.

New York Times News Service