CV News Feed // Democrats in the House are attempting to pass legislation that would erase all “gendered” terms from federal law, replacing words like “wife” with “gender-neutral” language.
Rep. Julie Brownley, D-CA, has headed efforts to pass the bill, entitled the Amend the Code for Marriage Equality Act. The bill would “replace references to ‘wives’ and ‘husbands’ in Federal law with references to ‘spouses.’”
The bill also seeks to replace “widow or widower” and insert “surviving spouse,” or “former spouse.”
“Although the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that same-sex couples have the right to marry, there are many instances where the U.S. Code does not respect that constitutional right,” Brownley stated in a press release last week.
“Now more than ever, with an extreme Supreme Court and state legislatures rolling back the rights of the LGBTQ community, it is imperative that Congress showcases its commitment to supporting equality.” Brownley argued:
This common-sense bill will ensure that our federal code reflects the equality of all marriages by recognizing and acting upon the notion that the words in our laws have meaning and our values as a country are reflected in our laws.
This is not the first time this bill has been proposed. Brownley also filed the legislation in 2017, 2019, and 2021.
Before that, former Rep. Lois Capps, D-CA, introduced the bill in 2015. The bill did not pass in any of these previous congressional sessions.
