In theory, fundamental rights "depend on the outcome of no elections", but in reality, they absolutely do.

Were they being inconsistent? It's possible that in the 26 intervening years, they had changed their personal views — based on the data, it's clear that many people did. But I think it's as likely that they were faithfully representing the views of their constituents.

In the 2022 Senate vote, there were eight senators who had also voted in the Senate in 1996, and two of them voted for both bills — that is, first they voted against gay marriage, then they voted for it. In the House, 13 representatives voted for both bills.

• In 2022, Congress passed the Respect for Marriage Act — which repealed DOMA — with substantial bipartisan support. By then, about 66% of Americans supported same-sex marriage.

• In 1996, Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defined marriage, for purposes of federal law, as "only a legal union between one man and one woman". At the time, fewer than 20% of Americans supported gay marriage.

Do you defend marriage or respect it? If the question is confusing, just remember that the Defense of Marriage Act banned same-sex marriage, and the Respect for Marriage Act allows it.

* In 2022, those percentages were up to 62% and 59%. And now that those children and their friends have grown up, they are even more likely to agree — among people born in the 2000s, it's more than 70%.

* In 2012, about 48% agreed that "same sex female couple can bring up a child as well as a male-female couple", and 44% thought a male couple could, too.

It is also possible that the law changed public opinion. As more gay couples adopted, more people became aware of children with two mommies or two daddies.

It didn't take long for adoption rights to catch up with public opinion. In 2008, a majority of Americans thought gay couples should be allowed to adopt. Nine years later, the law was on their side.

But there were no federal protections until a series of Supreme Court decisions that established nationwide marriage equality (2015); required states to recognize adoptions granted in other states (2016); and required states to extend the same parental recognition to all married couples (2017).

During that period, state laws were all over the map. Vermont and Massachusetts recognized adoption rights in 1993. Florida was the last holdout — a 1977 law barred gay people from adopting until it was overturned in 2010.

In 1992, only 28% of Americans said gay couples should be allowed to adopt children. But support grew quickly: by 2008 it was above 50%, and in 2024 it was above 80%.