Biden attacks the 'extreme' Supreme Court for threatening rights, signs same-sex marriage bill

President Joe Biden attacked the 'extreme' Supreme Court for threatening rights as he signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law in a ceremony on the South Lawn Tuesday with Sam Smith and Cyndi Lauper. 

Biden spoke about how the law represented decades of progress in civil rights - but it was also needed because of in his concurring opinion to Dobbs, Justice Clarence Thomas suggested other cases based on Roe v. Wade's precedent should be revisited, including the 2015 landmark gay marriage decision Obergefell v. Hodges.

'So sadly, I must acknowledge another reason we're here,' Biden told a crowd of thousands. 'Congress is acting because an extreme Supreme Court has stripped away the rights afforded to millions of Americans that existed for half a century.'

Biden said he wished to still sign the Equality Act, which would ensure LGBTQ  Americans with even greater protections, including in the workplace.

'When a person can be married in the morning and thrown out of a restaurant for being gay in the afternoon - this is still wrong,' the president said. 

Biden also acknowledged the recent shooting in Colorado, targeting an LGBTQ nightclub.  

'We must stop the hate and violence like we just saw in Colorado Springs,' he said. 

And he went after GOP-led efforts to have the government intervene in gender-affirming care for minors.  

'We need to challenge the hundreds of callous and cynical laws introduced in the states targeting transgender children, terrifying families and criminalizing doctors who give children the care we need,' Biden said. 'We have to protect these children so they know they are loved.'

Biden said signing the same-sex marriage bill was the act of pushing back against all kinds of intolerance.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer talked about how the legislation was 'personal' to him. 

 'The tie that I'm wearing reminds me what this moment is all about,' the New York Democrat said. 'It's the tie I ore the day my daughter got married to a beautiful young lady,' he added, nothing that his daughter Alison is expected with wife Elizabeth. 

Schumer gave a shout-out to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, despite her announcement to leave th Democratic Party on Friday. She'll still caucus with the Democrats. 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who will step down from her top leadership post at the start of the year, received raucous cheers. 

She recalled how she signed the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell as one of her last act when she originally signed as House speaker between 2007 and 2011. 

'We tossed Don't Ask, Don't Tell into the dustbin of history,' she cheered. 

Don't Ask, Don't Tell didn't allow gay people to serve openly in the U.S. military. 

'It's fitting that one of my final act of speakership was to sign the Respect for Marriage Act,' she noted. 

Though Pelosi also said she wanted Congress to still pass the Equality Act, which the House passed, but it fizzled in the U.S. Senate. 

Directly before the ceremony, Lauper made a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room. 

'We can rest easy tonight because our families are validated. Because now we're allowed to love somebody, which sounds odd to say, but Americans can now love who we love,' said Lauper, a longtime ally of the LGBTQ community, who will perform at the afternoon ceremony. 

'And bless Joe Biden and all the people that worked on this for allowing people not to worry and their children not to worry about their future,' Lauper continued. 

The longtime pop star has violet bleached hair and wore a black pantsuit over a black shirt adorned with rhinestones. 

'So I brought a friend with me, who is an icon really, she doesn't need any introduction,' said press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, ushering Lauper to the podium.   

Around 2,000 to 3,000 people are expected at the outdoor event, with Lauper the only prominent entertainer who's been announced.  

Biden will sign the Respect for Marriage Act, which gives federal marriage protections to same-sex and interracial couples.

Biden's guest list included a number of prominent drag queens, who confirmed their attendance on social media.

Drag queen Marti Gould Cummings shared their invitation on Instagram. 

'To be a non binary drag artist invited to the White House is something I never imagined would happen. Thank you President & Dr. Biden for inviting me to this historic bill signing. Grateful doesn't begin to express the emotions I feel,' Cummings wrote. 

Brita Filter, who appeared on the 12th season of RuPaul's Drag Race, chimed in and said she was invited too. 

Both Cummings and Filter have performed for young audiences, with Cummings routinely putting on kids shows in progressives communities like Provincetown, Massachusetts.  

Filter got some pushback for a performance she delivered at a 'Pride Chapel' in April, as she was asked to perform her drag show and then talk about queerness with a group of students from the progressive independent Episcopal school in the East Village. 

Some conservative students said that they were uncomfortable with the dancing and twerking in a church setting, according to The New York Post.

Biden's backing of drag queens comes after Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis - who could be his 2024 White House rival - tried to make drag shows a culture war issue earlier this year. 

DeSantis said he would be filing a complaint after a video showed a child in the audience of a Florida drag brunch, in which one of the queens was exposing naked, but clearly fake, large breasts. 

The queen covers up her breasts as she spots a child seated front row, according to a video shared by the conservative Libs of TikTok account. 

'This is what a "family-friendly drag show" in a bar looks like,' the post said. 

At a press conference in late July, DeSantis said 'having kids involved in this is wrong. That is not consistent with our law and policy in the state of Florida' and suggested that the restaurant in question, R House in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood, could lose its liquor license. 

A statement from the restaurant's owners called it a 'misunderstanding.' 

The White House's support also comes as drag queens and LGBTQ establishments have been targeted by hard-right groups such as the Proud Boys and the Patriot Front. 

Last month in Colorado Springs, Colorado five people were killed when a gunman entered Club Q during a drag performance and started shooting. That followed the June 2016 shooting at Pulse nightclub, a LGBTQ nightclub in Orlando, in which 49 people were killed. 

Previewing the bill signing from the podium Monday, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre teased that there would be musical guests and entertainment at the South Lawn event, but wouldn't give reporters more information than that. 

First lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff will also attend. 

The legislation came about after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, in a concurring opinion to Dobbs - which overturned Roe v. Wade in June - said that other cases based on the precedent that had been established in Roe should be revisited, including the 2015 landmark gay marriage decision Obergefell v. Hodges. 

The Respect for Marriage Act officially repeals the Defense of Marriage Act, the Clinton-era legislation that banned federal recognition of same-sex marriage. 

It requires the federal government to recognize same-sex and interracial marriages, codifying parts of Obergefell and the landmark 1967 case Loving v. Virginia. 

The House of Representatives passed the bill in July, with the help of 47 Republicans. 

The bill had more difficulty getting through the Senate, where 60 votes are needed for cloture, but eventually 12 Republicans signed on. 

The bill passed the Senate last last month after amendments were added to bolster religious protections and clarify that it did not legalize polygamous marriages. 

The House then passed the updated version on Thursday.