Amendment J passes: Colorado will remove same-sex marriage ban from state constitution
The line, added by voters in 2006, says that "only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state." The vote to remove the phrase was 63.6% to 36.4% at 8:50 p.m. when The Associated Press called the race.
Amendment J, placed on the ballot by the legislature this year, needed a simple majority vote to pass, not the 55% for amendments that add words to the state constitution.
Gay marriage is already legal in Colorado, protected under a 2013 state law and a 2015 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that supersedes the wording in the Colorado Constitution. Removing the language from the state constitution, supporters said, was not only about righting history, but was a safeguard to protect same-sex marriage should the U.S. Supreme Court ever reverse its ruling.
A court decision called Obergefell v. Hodges extended the right of same-sex marriage across the country nine years ago. However, two U.S. Supreme Court justices — Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito — have indicated that they would like to revisit the 2015 decision. If it was overturned, the legality of same-sex marriage would revert to states.
The ballot measure was proposed by Freedom to Marry Colorado, a coalition that includes One Colorado, Rose Community Foundation, Rocky Mountain Equality and other LGBTQ allies and groups. The coalition raised $762,302 through Oct. 28, according to the group's latest campaign finance filing.
The ballot measure had no organized opposition that spent money fighting it. However, the Colorado Catholic Conference was opposed, saying that the future of the state depends on government policies that "support, not undermine, the reality of marriage."
State lawmakers, on a bipartisan vote, sent the "Protecting the Freedom to Marry Act " to the ballot. The effort was led by state Sen. Joann Ginal, a Democrat who was the first open lesbian to represent Fort Collins at the state level.
In the 1990s, state lawmakers twice passed legislation banning gay marriage. Both bills were vetoed by former Gov. Roy Romer, a Democrat. The legislature tried a third time in 2000, and Gov. Bill Owens, a Republican, signed a law banning same-sex marriage.
Then, in 2006, Colorado voters passed Amendment 43, by 56% to 44%, adding the provision to the state constitution that recognized only marriages "between one man and one woman."
