Virginia Marriage Amendment: 2006 Ban, Repeal, and Ballot Dates

The Virginia marriage amendment is a proposed change to the state constitution that voters will decide on November 3, 2026. A yes vote would strike the 2006 ban on same-sex marriage from Virginia’s constitution and replace it with an affirmative right for any two adults to marry regardless of sex, gender, or race.¹

What the Ballot Question Asks

The question that will appear on Virginia ballots reads: “Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to (i) remove the ban on same-sex marriage; (ii) affirm that two adults may marry regardless of sex, gender, or race; and (iii) require all legally valid marriages to be treated equally under the law?”¹

A majority yes vote repeals the current Section 15-A of Article I and replaces it with new language: “Marriage is one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness. This Commonwealth and its political subdivisions shall not deny the issuance of a marriage license to two adult persons seeking a lawful marriage on the basis of the sex, gender, or race of such persons. This Commonwealth and its political subdivisions shall recognize any lawful marriage between two adult persons and treat such marriages equally under the law, regardless of the sex, gender, or race of such persons.”¹

If approved, the amendment takes effect on January 1, 2027.¹ The inclusion of race alongside sex and gender is a direct reference to Virginia’s role in Loving v. Virginia, the 1967 Supreme Court case that struck down state bans on interracial marriage.²

The 2006 Ban That Is Still in the Constitution

In 2006, roughly 57 percent of Virginia voters approved what became known as the Marshall-Newman Amendment, named for its sponsors, then-Delegate Bob Marshall and then-Senator Stephen Newman. It added Section 15-A to Article I of the state constitution and took effect on January 1, 2007.³⁴

The language reaches beyond marriage itself. It declares that “only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage valid in or recognized by this Commonwealth,” bars the state and its subdivisions from creating or recognizing any legal status “that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance, or effects of marriage” for unmarried couples, and prohibits any alternative union that carries the rights or benefits of marriage.⁴

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges made Section 15-A unenforceable, holding that the Fourteenth Amendment requires every state to license and recognize same-sex marriages.⁵ The text has remained on the books ever since, waiting on a referendum to remove it.

Why Repeal a Ban That Courts Already Blocked

For several years after Obergefell, the dormant ban drew little legislative attention. The Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization shifted that calculus by overturning Roe v. Wade and applying a historical-rootedness test to unenumerated rights.⁶

Justice Clarence Thomas, concurring in Dobbs, called on the Court to “reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell,” which he characterized as “demonstrably erroneous.” Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan warned in dissent that the majority’s reasoning could extend to marriage equality, private sexual activity, and contraception.⁷

Federal law offers partial but incomplete protection. The Respect for Marriage Act, signed in 2022, requires states to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere but does not require any state to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.⁸ If Obergefell were reversed, Virginia’s Section 15-A, still sitting in the constitution, could in theory become enforceable again. Governor Abigail Spanberger put the aim this way at the bill signing: “We want to make sure that Virginia families know that here in Virginia, it is not just a Supreme Court decision that protects them, but it is also our state constitution.”⁹

How the Amendment Got to the Ballot

Amending Virginia’s constitution is a multi-year process. Article XII requires a proposed amendment to pass both chambers of the General Assembly, pass again in a separately elected legislature after an intervening House of Delegates election, and then go to voters in a referendum.¹⁰

The marriage amendment cleared its first legislative hurdle in 2025. Then-Senator Adam Ebbin’s SJ 249 advanced out of the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee with bipartisan support in January of that year, and the full General Assembly passed the measure.¹¹³

After the November 2025 House of Delegates election, the amendment returned for its mandatory second passage in the 2026 session. Two identical bills carried it: SB 311, with former Senator Adam Ebbin as chief patron, and HB 612, sponsored by Delegate Laura Jane Cohen with co-sponsors including Delegates Betsy Carr, Nadarius Clark, Jackie Glass, Amy Laufer, Garrett McGuire, and Atoosa Reaser.¹²¹³

Both bills passed with clear majorities in each chamber. The House passed HB 612 on January 29, 2026, by a vote of 66–32, and later passed SB 311, 66–31, on February 25, 2026.¹⁴¹² The Senate passed HB 612, 24–16, and SB 311, 25–15, both on February 2, 2026.¹³

Governor Spanberger signed HB 612 on February 6, 2026, as Chapter 1 of the Acts of Assembly, and signed SB 311 on April 13, 2026, as Chapter 819.⁹¹² Those signatures put the referendum on the November 2026 ballot.

Key Dates for Virginia Voters

Early in-person voting begins: September 18, 2026.¹⁵
Voter registration deadline: October 23, 2026.¹⁵
Early voting ends: October 31, 2026.¹⁵
Election Day: November 3, 2026.¹²
Effective date if approved: January 1, 2027.¹

1
Virginia Legislative Information System. HB 612 Full Text
2
Columbia Law School. Marriage Equality’s Debt to Loving v. Virginia
3
News From the States. Virginia Marriage Equality Amendment Campaign Launches at Start of Pride Month
4
Virginia Code Commission. Constitution of Virginia, Article I
5
Justia. Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. 644
6
League of Women Voters. Explaining SCOTUS’s Abortion Decision: Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization
7
Syracuse Law Review. Dobbs v. Jackson: The Overturning of Roe v. Wade and Its Implications on Substantive Due Process
8
The 19th. LGBTQ Marriage Ballot Measures: California, Colorado, Hawaii
9
The Advocate. Spanberger Signs Marriage Referendum
10
Virginia Code Commission. Constitution of Virginia, Article XII
11
Adam Ebbin. Marriage Equality Amendment and Other Legislation Advance
12
Virginia Legislative Information System. SB 311
13
LegiScan. Virginia HB 612
14
Virginia Legislative Information System. HB 612
15
GLAAD. 2026 Virginia Pro-Marriage Ballot Measure