Tinder Launches Advocacy Campaign for Respect for Marriage Act
Contributed by: kellyseal on Wednesday, September 14 2022 @ 10:26 am
Last modified on Wednesday, September 14 2022 @ 10:38 am
Dating app Tinder and non-profit The Human Rights Campaign just announced a platform partnership to urge US Senators to pass the Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and require the US government to recognize same-sex marriages.
Tinder users will be directed to a landing page with an email template, according to The Hill, where they can send a message to their respective Senators and urge them to support the bill. Part of the campaign includes highlighting LGBTQ+ couples who met over the app.
According to tilte:The Hill[*1] , the bill itself would repeal and replace provisions "that define, for purposes of federal law, marriage as between a man and a woman and spouse as a person of the opposite sex with provisions that recognize any marriage that is valid under state law."
It would also repeal/replace provisions that "do not require states to recognize same-sex marriages from other states with provisions that prohibit the denial of full faith and credit or any right or claim relating to out-of-state marriages on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, or national origin."
The Respect for Marriage Act had bipartisan support in the House this summer, with 47 Republicans voting in favor of the bill. The Senate has typically been more resistant to compromise, which is why advocacy groups are pressing the issue.
The move comes after threats to overturn the US Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage in 2015. In the Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade, Justice Clarence Thomas noted that the Obergefell v. Hodges decision to legalize gay marriage should be reconsidered as well, causing LGBTQ+ rights groups to organize and lobby for rights. Statues against gay marriage remain on the books in 30 states, which means if the ruling was overturned, those laws would be enforceable. Many states are seeing it play out now with the overturning of Roe, with so-called “trigger laws” restricting access to abortion now being enforced in many of these states.
Polling from Gallup shows that 71 percent of Americans support marriage equality, a large majority, and 60 percent believe that the right to same-sex marriage should be shielded by federal legislation.
A press release from Tinder and parent company Match Group reads: “As a company who has created more than 75 billion matches around the world, including helping millions of LGBTQIA+ people of diverse backgrounds find their partners, we consider passage of this legislation to be imperative, and strongly support its quick passage.”
The company went on to say: “Over the last several years, Tinder has taken a strong and clear public position to defend human rights and people’s freedom to be their authentic self and love who they choose.”