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Colorado voters protect same-sex marriage, California and Hawaii still voting
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This piece originally appeared as part of NPR's live coverage of the 2024 election. For more election coverage from the NPR Network head to our live updates page.
In Colorado, voters have passed Amendment J, repealing a ban on same-sex unions passed in 2006, according to a call by The Associated Press.
Similar measures are before voters in California and Hawaii. California’s Proposition 3 would codify the right for same-sex, as well as interracial, couples to marry. It would also remove existing language in the state’s constitution that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
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Voters in Hawaii are deciding whether or not to repeal Section 23 of the state constitution, which says the legislature has the power to reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples.
Same-sex marriages became legal nationwide in 2015 with the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision, but there are concerns in the wake of the high court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade that something similar may happen to the legality of same-sex unions. For that reason, proponents in California, Colorado and Hawaii have argued it's time to implement a safety net on the state level for the rights of LGBTQ residents to wed.
There's been no major organized opposition to any of the three measures. Only a handful of elected officials and conservative groups have come out against the initiatives and no money has been raised by opposition campaigns, according to OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan group that tracks campaign funding and lobbying efforts.
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