Both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly last week took a step toward removing the currently unenforceable ban on same-sex marriage from the Virginia Constitution, setting the stage for a showdown at the polls in 2026.
On January 14, the House of Delegates passed an amendment that would prohibit authorities from refusing to issue a marriage license to “two parties considering a lawful marriage” based on the couple’s sex, sex, or race. It passed 58-35. Seven Republicans joined all Democrats in the chamber to vote in favor of repeal. Five additional Republicans did not vote, and the remaining two abstained.
On January 21, the Senate approved the amendment 24-15, with three Republicans from battleground districts, Sen. Danny Diggs (Yorktown), Sen. Tara Durant (Fredericksburg), and Rep. David Suterlein. Congressman (Roanoke) sided with all House Democrats. .
One Republican in the battleground district, Sen. Emily Jordan (née Brewer) (R-Smithfield), did not vote. Jordan also did not vote while a delegate on a nearly identical 2021 bill that sought to remove the marriage ban from the Virginia Constitution.
Some House Republicans tried to persuade their colleagues to reject the bill, which would repeal the Marshall-Newman Amendment, a 2006 voter-approved constitutional amendment that banned marriage for all but heterosexual couples. .
Del. Nick Freitas (R-Culpeper) argued that the bill should be defeated because it does not address the ability of religious clergy to refuse marriages.
But last year, the House and Senate passed the lawsigned into effect by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, protects the right of same-sex couples to marry and allows religious clergy and organizations to refuse to perform or participate in same-sex weddings. Democrats pointed to that exact law to prove that religious opponents are already protected.
LGBTQ advocates say that if the repeal bill passes, anti-LGBTQ groups will run well-funded attack ads and Freitas’ flawed claims, which were made more than a decade ago when other states passed marriage equality. I fully expect to be regurgitated (reminiscent of arguments used in opposing arguments).
Similarly, Minority Leader Todd Gilbert (R-Woodstock), an anti-LGBTQ lawmaker who blocked a vote to repeal the same-sex marriage ban when he was speaker of the House, said the amendment would He opposed the fact that the ban on marriage would be abolished. Distinguish between sex and gender.
“That idea needs to at least give us pause that maybe this is not ready yet and it’s not in Virginia’s best interest to move forward with it,” he said. Ta. virginia public media.
The success of the amendment to overturn the marriage ban on same-sex couples will depend on whether Democrats can maintain a majority in the House of Representatives in next November’s election, when voters will elect a new governor and lieutenant governor and decide whether to grant permission. A lot depends on what happens. Right-wing Attorney General Jason Miyares is in his second term.
Under Virginia law, constitutional amendments must be approved by a majority of the General Assembly in two sessions separated by the state election cycle. If approved a second time in 2026 after the 2025 election, the approved amendment would be placed on the ballot for voter approval in the next federal election (2026 midterm elections). .
If approved by voters, the amendment would not require Governor Yonkin’s approval and would go into effect immediately, removing the ban on same-sex marriage from the state constitution.
However, the ban on same-sex marriage became moot in 2014 after a federal appeals court upheld a judge’s ruling that declared both this amendment and a similar statutory ban to be discriminatory and unconstitutional. A year later, that idea was reinforced by a U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down all state-level and constitutional bans on marriage equality.
In 2020, the Democratic-controlled House and Senate repealed the statutory ban and in 2021 voted to repeal the Marshall-Newman Amendment. But after Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in that year’s elections, Republican leaders moved committees and subcommittees to ensure that the legislation that would have removed Marshall Newman remained locked in committee. Piled up. Democrats were reluctant to defeat the repeal amendment, believing that it would have passed with moderate Republicans if they had been allowed an up-or-down vote on the floor.
Similarly, in 2023, the Democratic-controlled Senate passed a bill that would allow clergy to refuse same-sex marriages while affirming the right of same-sex couples to marry. However, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives refused to consider the bill. In fact, it wasn’t until the 2024 session, after Democrats regained the majority, that the same bill was passed and signed into law by Youngkin.
That’s why the fate of the effort to repeal the Marshall-Newman Amendment is inextricably tied to Democratic electoral success in the November election. If Republicans control the House of Representatives (fortunately, there are no re-elections in the Senate this year), Mr. Gilbert, who is likely to become Speaker again, will use any legislative maneuvering to deny the bill a floor vote. There is a possibility of doing this.
These measures could keep the ban in place for at least several more years. Additionally, if the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority overturns the 2015 ruling that legalized marriage equality in the meantime, as some LGBTQ advocates and allies fear, same-sex marriage would once again be illegal in Virginia.
Despite the fact that over and over again, public opinion poll A majority of Virginians have shown support for allowing same-sex couples to marry, but every time Republicans are given control of the Legislature, they will consider any bill that removes barriers to same-sex marriage. refuses to do so.
Interestingly, in both 2021 and 2025, seven House Republicans voted in favor of repeal, while five did not. (The other two non-electors in 2021 were conservative Democrats who have since lost their seats.) But unlike the senator, the only Republican from a battleground district is Rep. Carrie Coyner (R-P.C.) Chesterfield).
The other four — Dersu. Rob Bloxom (R-Mappsville), Chad Green (R-Seaford), Chris Obenshain (R-Blacksburg), and Otto Waksman (R-Stony Creek) generally lean Republican. , and are sometimes able to compete in Democratic “waves”. Two others, Rep. Tom Garrett (R-Goochland), a former U.S. congressman with liberal leanings, and Rep. Joe McNamara (R-Roanoke), who did not vote for the 2021 bill. He comes from a safe Republican district.
Notably, four of the seven Republicans who did not vote or abstained were Mr. DeLus. A.C. Cordoza (R-Fort Monroe), David Owen (R-Short Pump), Ian Lovejoy (R-Manassas) and Amanda Batten (R-Noge) are from swing districts. Two others, Rep. Danny Marshall (R-Danville) and Rep. Bobby Orlock (R-Thornburg), are from Republican-leaning districts that sometimes compete during Democratic “wave” periods. In contrast, Rep. Mike Cherry (R-Colonial Heights) comes from a Republican-leaning district. I’m from a safe Republican district.
It’s notable that all but Marshall voted for two other constitutional amendments: access to abortion and restoring voting rights to ex-felons. These votes were cast just minutes before the vote to repeal the marriage ban.
Click here to subscribe to Metro Weekly magazine for free.
Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com
