Virginia’s Constitution bans same-sex marriages and has since 2006, when voters approved a ballot measure that reads: “Only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage valid in or recognized by this commonwealth.” 

For over a decade, marriage equality advocates have been working to undo this, navigating Virginia’s complex constitutional amendments process to remove language that no longer represents the views of most Virginians. The effort has long been a symbolic one given the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which established a federal right to marry for same-sex couples. 

Now, with the most conservative high court in a century being asked to take up a case that would overturn that ruling, marriage equality advocates in Virginia say the marriage ban repeal can’t wait any longer. 

“There’s a greater sense of urgency,” said Narissa Rahaman, executive director of Equality Virginia, who called the 2006 amendment  a “stain on our state’s most revered document.” She also cited the 2022 overturning of federal abortion rights — a nearly 50-year precedent. “That sent the message that a precedent set by the Supreme Court wasn’t necessarily set in stone.” 

Exactly 20 years since the passage of the same-sex marriage ban, Virginia voters could weigh in on the issue once again, via a proposed referendum that would protect the right to marry regardless of sex, gender or race. The measure needs to clear one more hurdle before landing on the ballot in 2026: a second vote of approval from the Virginia legislature this coming January. Republicans have long opposed the measure, and while Democrats hold a majority in the Senate, control of the state’s lower chamber is hotly contested this November. 

Rahaman said supporters are fueled by a strong cadre of “pro-equality” champions running for reelection in the state legislature. 

While there’s no indication that Supreme Court justices are inclined to hear the marriage equality case, Virginia’s constitutional ban leaves the state vulnerable: Virginia is one of 32 states that would automatically ban same-sex marriage if Obergefell is overturned. And while more than two-thirds of Americans support same-sex marriage, the share of Republicans who do has falled by 14 points since 2022, creating the largest partisan gap in support in 30 years, according to Gallup. 

“We are now essentially looking down the barrel, not knowing what could happen next,” said Democratic Del. Joshua Cole, who is running for reelection this November in a battleground seat in Northern Virginia. Cole identifies as bisexual and is a chief sponsor of the constitutional amendment. 

“We want to be proactive, not reactive, by trying to make sure that we can protect our rights,” Cole said.

Elections in Virginia have the national spotlight thanks to a competitive governor’s race pitting Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and Democratic former Rep. Abigail Spanberger. Either would be the first woman elected to the state’s highest office, and Earle-Sears would be the first Black woman governor ever elected in the United States. The legislative races — all 100 seats in the House of Delegates are up for grabs — and three Democrat-backed constitutional amendments at stake this November, are also attracting growing attention from both candidates and voters.

If Republicans win a majority in the House of Delegates this fall, efforts to put the amendment on the ballot could be set back by five years or more because of the state’s process for amending the constitution. Before Virginia voters can weigh in on any ballot measure, the legislature must approve a proposed constitutional amendment twice, with a general election dividing the two votes.

In addition to the marriage equality measure, the Democrat-controlled legislature also approved constitutional amendments that would guarantee the right to abortion and reproductive health care and that would automatically restore voting rights to people who have completed criminal sentences for a felony. 

All of the amendments moved ahead with no or minimal Republican support, which makes the odds of passage should Republicans take the House of Delegates slim. The marriage equality measure received the support of just eight Republicans in the state House and three in the state Senate.

Del. Rozia Henson, the first out gay Black man elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, who is also a chief sponsor of the ballot measure, said some voters in his district figured the issue had long been settled. 

“Some people are saying, ‘Hey, why are we still talking about LGBTQ marriages? I thought we were done with that,’ but evidently, we’re not done, because we see what’s happening in the Supreme Court,” Henson said. This amendment presents an opportunity for the state’s voters  to protect the status quo. “We just need to get this done once and for all, and everyone can be happy and be married.”

The proposed amendment would repeal the state’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and would create an affirmative right to marriage between two adults regardless of their sex, gender or race. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down bans on interracial marriage in a landmark 1967 decision that hinged on the case of Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple who, coincidentally, lived in Virginia. 

“This covers not only the precedent set by Obergefell v Hodges, but also Loving v. Virginia, really sending a message that — not to use our state slogan or anything — but that Virginia is for lovers regardless of your sex, race or gender,” Rahaman said. 

The amendment also protects the right for religious organizations and clergy acting in their religious capacity to refuse to perform any marriage. Cole, who is an ordained pastor, said the religious liberty portion is an important feature. “Democrats are the ones who are standing here saying, ‘Yes, we agree in freedom of religion, and yes, we’re going to protect your freedoms as well,’” he said. 

Similar language was included in a bill passed by the General Assembly earlier this year, which prohibits people authorized by the state to issue marriage licenses from denying them based on the sex, gender or race of the couples. The bill was signed by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, but Earle-Sears, who had to sign the legislation as it cleared the Senate, a procedural move, handwrote on the bill that she was “morally opposed” to its contents. 

Henson, who introduced the bill, said he’d “never seen that happen before.” 

“For her to take that point on my particular bill, you know, it disheartened the work that we all do in order to make this a more inclusive commonwealth,” Henson said. “I know for sure Republicans will not pass marriage equality if they’re in the majority, because look at their leader.” 

As it protected the right for religious organizations to perform marriages, the bill also expanded the number of people who can perform them. That includes members of the state legislature. 

“A few of my colleagues have married a few folks, but I have not gotten that opportunity just yet,” Henson said. “If you see my billboard next to a Wawa that says, ‘Hey, I can perform marriages for free!’ just know that’s one of my milestones.”