What the Respect for Marriage Act does and doesn't do

What the bill does: Ensure federal recognition of marriage regardless of sex, race, ethnicity or national origin and require all states to recognize valid marriages conducted in places where they are legal.

The legislation notably repeals the Defense of Marriage Act, which established a federal definition of marriage as a "legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife."
What the bill doesn't do: Require all 50 states to allow same-sex marriage as is held under the 2015 Supreme Court decision Obergefell v. Hodges.

It also does not prohibit states from taking steps to ban or restrict same-sex marriage if Obergefell were overturned.
Worth noting: Under the religious freedoms amendment, nonprofit religious organizations — including churches, faith-based social agencies and religious educational institutions — would not be required to "provide services, accommodations, advantages, facilities, goods, or privileges for the solemnization or celebration of a marriage," the text of the bill states.

Any such refusal "shall not create any civil claim or cause of action."