This November, Virginia voters have a chance to change the state constitution.
The ballot will include three questions, or referendums, that decide the future of reproductive health, same-sex marriage and voting rights in the state. Some counties will have a fourth referendum about local sales taxes.
This article takes a closer look at the second referendum that asks voters if Virginia’s constitution should be amended to remove an existing ban on same-sex marriage. (Read about the referendum on reproductive rights here and the referendum on voting rights here.)
This referendum will essentially update the state’s constitution to remove the unenforceable ban on same-sex marriage and add in language that guarentees Virginia residents the right to marry regardless of sex, gender or race. Read the full ballot measure here.
On the ballot, it will read: “Question: 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?”
Changing Virginia’s constitution takes two rounds of votes and at least one election cycle. After a resolution to amend the constitution passes the General Assembly once, it must come up for another vote after the next election. Once it’s passed twice, it moves up to the governor, and finally, to all Virginia voters as a ballot referendum.
This is the same process that added a same-sex marriage ban to Virginia’s constitution about 20 years ago with the Marshall-Newman amendment, named after then-Del. Bob Marshall (R) and then-Sen. Steve Newman (R), who sponsored it.
In 2006, roughly 57% of Virginia voters approved the referendum that reads in part “that only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage valid in or recognized by this Commonwealth and its political subdivisions.”
While that language remains in the constitution, it was challenged in 2013, when Tim Bostic and Tony London applied for a marriage license in Norfolk. When it was denied, they filed a federal lawsuit challenging the state’s same-sex marriage ban. U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen ruled in their favor in February 2014, declaring Virginia’s same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme court declined to hear the state’s appeal that October, securing the win.
The following year, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges legalized same-sex marriage throughout the country.
Despite the decision in the courts, Virginia never removed the same-sex marriage ban from the state constitution. That means the 2006 amendment would be enforceable again if Obergefell v. Hodges is struck down, as Roe v. Wade was in 2022.
Public opinion on same-sex marriage has changed considerably over time. Support for same-sex marriage has largely climbed since the 1990s, peaking at 71% in 2022 before dipping to 62% in 2026, according to Gallup’s Values and Belief Surveys. The Public Religion Research Institute reports that 68% of Virginians approve of same-sex marriage as of 2025, a marked difference from the voter response to the same-sex marriage ban on the ballot in 2006.
This referendum is the only referendum that didn’t pass along party-line vote this year. Five Republicans joined their Democratic colleagues voting in favor of the amendment: Bill DeSteph of Virginia Beach, Danny Diggs of York County, Tara Durant of Fredericksburg, Emily Jordan of Isle of Wight County and David Suetterlein of Roanoke County.
