The United States has taken a big step towards protecting same-sex marriage through federal law.
This Tuesday, the Senate wants to vote on a draft that enshrines same-sex marriages in a law.
The Senate brought the draft to the finish line on Monday.
Also, in a trial ballot, enough Republicans voted with Democratic senators to pass the law.
President Joe Biden's Democrats need support from the Republican camp in the Congressional Chamber.
If the Senate approves the bill, it would be a major victory for the Democrats.
In addition, the House of Representatives must vote again on the draft due to changes in the text of the law.
The chamber had actually already voted for the text in the summer with a non-partisan majority.
If the MPs there agree again, which is very likely, President Biden can sign the law.
His Democrats will hold the majority in the House of Representatives until the end of the year.
Next year the law would no longer pass
In the next legislature, the Republicans will have narrow control of the chamber due to gains in seats in the recent midterm elections.
The Democrats have to hurry to get important legislative projects through.
Same-sex marriage was legalized in the United States by a 2015 Supreme Court decision.
It declared unconstitutional a 1996 law that established marriage as a covenant between a man and a woman.
However, concerns arose this year when the right-wing majority on the Supreme Court reversed the Supreme Court's abortion-rights ruling dating back to the 1970s.
One of the judges, arch-conservative lawyer Clarence Thomas, placed the decision on same-sex marriages in a series of judgments that the court must reconsider.