Voters in California, Colorado, and Hawaii recently passed measures to amend their state constitutions, enshrining protections for same-sex marriage. These changes come as a proactive response to concerns over the stability of the landmark 2015 Supreme Court ruling, Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
While same-sex marriage is currently legal in all 50 states and the District of Columbia due to the Obergefell decision, activists have sought to ensure these rights are protected at the state level, fearing that the Supreme Court’s conservative shift, especially after the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, could threaten established rights.
In California, voters approved a measure that repeals a previous proposition that defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman, affirming the right to marry in the state’s Constitution. Colorado followed suit with a similar measure, aiming to remove outdated language in its state constitution that prohibited same-sex marriage. Meanwhile, Hawaii passed a measure that repeals the legislature’s power to restrict marriage to opposite-sex couples.
These measures reflect the long history of advocacy for same-sex marriage, which began in the 1990s, long before the nationwide legalization in 2015. The Obergefell decision, which struck down state-level bans in 13 states, was a major victory for LGBTQ rights.
In September 2022, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan expressed concern about the future of same-sex marriage and contraception access, suggesting that both could be under threat following the Roe v. Wade ruling. These recent state-level amendments are seen as a safeguard against any potential rollbacks of these fundamental rights.
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