Colorado will remove same-sex marriage ban from state constitution

The phrase that said ‘only a union of one man and one woman’ was valid was added to the Colorado Constitution by voters in 2006
A bouquet of flowers sits next to a new marriage license in Boulder on June 26, 2014. (Brennan Linsley, AP Photo)

Colorado voters on Tuesday decided to strike a provision in the state constitution that prohibits same-sex marriage.

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.

Same-sex 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.

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