Repeal of state Constitution’s same-sex marriage ban heads to voters with Gov. Polis’ signature

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed a measure Wednesday at the state Capitol that will ask voters whether language banning same-sex marriage should be removed from the state Constitution.   

Even though civil unions for same-sex marriage became legal in the state in 2013 — and same-sex marriages became legal nationwide in 2015 with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling — the Colorado Constitution retains language that states, “Only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state.”

Voters approved that language in 2006 through a ballot initiative, but the Legislature approved Senate Concurrent Resolution 24-3, which will ask voters to get rid of the sentence in November. 

Polis, a Democrat, remembered being in Washington D.C. when the 2015 decision came out and described the “feeling of pure joy” he said “erupted in the crowd knowing that our right to marry had been protected by the Supreme Court.” Polis, who was a congressman at the time, became the first openly gay governor in the U.S. when he was elected in 2018.

Polis said it’s “strange and awkward” to have his marriage and those of others, including state Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis, a Longmont Democrat, on the ballot for voters to decide, because it “doesn’t seem like something they should be deciding.” But he is confident Coloradans will “make the right decision” and support the measure. 

“Having our basic freedoms and ability to have our relationship acknowledged just protected by Supreme Court precedents is worrisome, because we’ve seen Supreme Court decisions since that erode basic liberties of peoples,” Polis said. “And while we’re extremely grateful that the precedent holds, and it’s certainly all of our hope that it holds for decades and generations to come, we cannot take that for granted.”

The marriage line in the state Constitution is inoperative and unenforceable since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, but some supporters of same-sex marriage have been concerned about the decision’s longevity after the court’s conservative majority overturned the federal right to an abortion two years ago.

In a concurring opinion in that case, Justice Clarence Thomas — one of the most conservative voices on the bench — wrote that the reasoning the court applied in the Dobbs v. Jackson decision that removed the national right to abortion care could extend to other rulings that establish rights to contraception access, same-sex relationships and same-sex marriage.

Colorado legislators brought forward a measure with the support of Freedom to Marry Colorado, a coalition of organizations advocating the repeal of Amendment 43, and One Colorado, the biggest LGBTQ advocacy organization in the state. One Colorado Executive Director Nadine Bridges said attitudes toward same-sex marriage have changed drastically since the 2006 ballot initiative passed, and now voters can “create a brighter future for LGBTQ+ Coloradans by taking this outdated law out of our Constitution.”  

“Colorado voters overwhelmingly support the freedom to marry for LGBTQ+ people, and now you will have the opportunity to show solidarity at the ballot box,” Bridges said. “The majority of Coloradans want to stand with loving, committed couples who choose to build and share a life together, to be there for each other, for better or for worse.” 

The state Senate approved the measure 29-5, with six Republicans joining Democrats in support. The state House approved it 46-14, with state Rep. Regina English, a Colorado Springs Democrat, joining Republicans in voting against it. Republican state Reps. Matt Soper of Delta and Rick Taggart of Grand Junction joined Democrats in support. 

State Sen. Joann Ginal, a Fort Collins Democrat who led the measure, said when she was first elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 2013, she supported a bill permitting LGBTQ people to enter civil unions. She is now finishing her final term in the Colorado Senate. 

“Now I’m able to complete what (I) was part of starting in 2013 by referring a constitutional amendment to the voters, that if approved, would repeal the provision of the Colorado Constitution stating that a marriage is only valid if it is between a man and a woman,” Ginal said. “We’ve come full circle. I know I have come full circle from beginning to end of my career in the Legislature. This is a beautiful way to leave this Capitol, knowing that we are going to keep us even more protected.”

State Rep. Brianna Titone, an Arvada Democrat, and state Rep. Alex Valdez, a Denver Democrat, co-sponsored the measure. 

Jacquez Lewis said when she and her wife first entered into a civil union, they were happy to be recognized as “partially legal.” When they finally got the right to marry in 2015, she said that comfort was “everything.”

“I never really thought a single word like ‘spouse’ would mean so much to me. But it does. We still smile,” Jacquez Lewis said. “When I look into Allison’s eyes and we say the word spouse, we still smile.”