RICHMOND, VA – Republicans in Virginia’s House of Delegates killed Democratic Sen. Adam Ebbin’s proposed constitutional amendment, which would have given Virginia voters the ability to decide whether or not to remove the antiquated, hateful ban on same-sex marriages currently preserved in Virginia’s constitution.

Sen. Ebbin’s amendment, SJ 242, would have posed the question to Virginia voters in a referendum. The amendment, which passed the Senate with a bipartisan vote of 25-14, was killed by GOP hardliners in a House subcommittee.

“Today’s vote proves that Virginia’s Republican Party believes that the far-right Supreme Court will act to overturn the precedent set in the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling, and it’s clear they want to be ready to ban current, lawful LGBTQ marriages if they do,” said Liam Watson, Press Secretary for the Democratic Party of Virginia. “Republicans are actively trying to strip Virginians of their freedoms – whether that’s the freedom to marry the person they love, or the freedom to make their own health care decisions.”

The Virginia constitution currently includes an amendment passed in 2006, banning same-sex marriage in the Commonwealth.

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