I 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2523 
To repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and ensure respect for State regulation 
of marriage. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 26, 2013 
Mr. NADLER (for himself, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. HOYER, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. CON-
YERS, Mr. POLIS, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New 
York, Mr. POCAN, Ms. SINEMA, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. BAR-
BER, Ms. BASS, Mr. BECERRA, Mr. BISHOP of New York, Mr. BLU-
MENAUER, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. BRALEY of 
Iowa, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. 
CA´RDENAS, Mr. CARNEY, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. 
CASTRO of Texas, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Ms. CHU, Ms. CLARKE, Mr. 
CLAY, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. COHEN, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. 
CROWLEY, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mrs. DAVIS 
of California, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. DELANEY, Ms. 
DELAURO, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. DEUTCH, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. DOGGETT, 
Mr. DOYLE, Ms. EDWARDS, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. ENGEL, Ms. ESHOO, Ms. 
ESTY, Mr. FARR, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. FOSTER, Ms. FUDGE, Ms. GABBARD, 
Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. GRAYSON, Mr. AL GREEN of Texas, Mr. GRIJALVA, 
Mr. GUTIE´RREZ, Ms. HAHN, Ms. HANABUSA, Mr. HANNA, Mr. HASTINGS 
of Florida, Mr. HECK of Washington, Mr. HIGGINS, Mr. HIMES, Mr. 
HOLT, Mr. HONDA, Mr. HORSFORD, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. ISRAEL, Ms. 
EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. KAP-
TUR, Mr. KEATING, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. KILMER, Mrs. 
KIRKPATRICK, Ms. KUSTER, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, 
Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. 
LEWIS, Mr. LOEBSACK, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mrs. LOWEY, 
Mr. BEN RAY LUJA´N of New Mexico, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. MAFFEI, Mrs. 
CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Mr. MARKEY, Ms. MATSUI, Mrs. 
MCCARTHY of New York, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. 
MCGOVERN, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. MENG, Mr. MICHAUD, Mr. GEORGE MIL-
LER of California, Ms. MOORE, Mr. MORAN, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mrs. 
NEGRETE MCLEOD, Mr. NOLAN, Ms. NORTON, Mr. O’ROURKE, Mr. 
OWENS, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. PASTOR of Arizona, Mr. 
PETERS of Michigan, Ms. PINGREE of Maine, Mr. PRICE of North Caro-
lina, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. RANGEL, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Ms. ROYBAL- 
ALLARD, Mr. RUSH, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Ms. LINDA T. SA´NCHEZ of Cali-
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fornia, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California, Mr. SARBANES, Ms. SCHA-
KOWSKY, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Ms. SCHWARTZ, Mr. SCOTT of 
Virginia, Mr. SERRANO, Ms. SHEA-PORTER, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. SIRES, 
Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. SMITH
of Washington, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. 
SWALWELL of California, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. TIERNEY, 
Ms. TITUS, Mr. TONKO, Ms. TSONGAS, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. VARGAS, 
Mr. VEASEY, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. WALZ, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, 
Mr. WATT, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. WELCH, Ms. WILSON of Florida, and Mr. 
YARMUTH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and ensure respect 
for State regulation of marriage. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Respect for Marriage 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. REPEAL OF SECTION ADDED TO TITLE 28, UNITED 
STATES CODE, BY SECTION 2 OF THE DE-
FENSE OF MARRIAGE ACT. 
Section 1738C of title 28, United States Code, is re-
pealed, and the table of sections at the beginning of chap-
ter 115 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by 
striking the item relating to that section. 
SEC. 3. MARRIAGE RECOGNITION. 
Section 7 of title 1, United States Code, is amended 
to read as follows: 
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‘‘§ 7. Marriage 
‘‘(a) For the purposes of any Federal law in which 
marital status is a factor, an individual shall be considered 
married if that individual’s marriage is valid in the State 
where the marriage was entered into or, in the case of 
a marriage entered into outside any State, if the marriage 
is valid in the place where entered into and the marriage 
could have been entered into in a State. 
‘‘(b) In this section, the term ‘State’ means a State, 
the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 
Rico, or any other territory or possession of the United 
States.’’. 
Æ 
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