I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1116 
To repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and ensure respect for State regulation 
of marriage. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 16, 2011 
Mr. NADLER (for himself, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. 
POLIS, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. CONYERS, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. HOYER, Mr. 
LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. ACKERMAN, Ms. BASS of California, Ms. 
BERKLEY, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, 
Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. CAPUANO, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Ms. CLARKE of New 
York, Ms. CHU, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. CONNOLLY
of Virginia, Mr. 
COURTNEY, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mrs. DAVIS of Cali-
fornia, Ms. DEGETTE, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. DEUTCH, Mr. DOYLE, Ms. 
EDWARDS, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. ENGEL, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. FARR, Mr. 
FATTAH, Mr. FILNER, Ms. FUDGE, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. 
GUTIERREZ, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. HEINRICH, Mr. HIGGINS, Mr. 
HIMES, Mr. HINCHEY, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. HOLT, Mr. HONDA, Mr. 
ISRAEL, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas, Ms. 
EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. 
KEATING, Mr. KUCINICH, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, 
Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. LYNCH, Mrs. 
MALONEY, 
Mr. 
MARKEY, 
Ms. 
MATSUI, 
Ms. 
MCCOLLUM, 
Mr. 
MCDERMOTT, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of 
California, Ms. MOORE, Mr. MORAN, Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut, Mrs. 
NAPOLITANO, Ms. NORTON, Mr. OLVER, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. PASTOR of 
Arizona, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. PETERS, Ms. PINGREE of Maine, Mr. PRICE 
of North Carolina, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. ROTHMAN of New 
Jersey, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Ms. LINDA T. SA´NCHEZ of California, Mr. 
SARBANES, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. 
SERRANO, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. SIRES, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. 
STARK, Mr. TIERNEY, Mr. TONKO, Mr. TOWNS, Ms. TSONGAS, Mr. VAN 
HOLLEN, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. WAXMAN, 
Mr. WEINER, Mr. WELCH, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. WU, and Mr. YARMUTH) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the 
Judiciary 
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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: 
‘‘§ 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 
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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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