DENVER (LifeSiteNews) – Colorado Democrat Gov. Jared Polis signed legislation formally repealing the state’s long-unenforced ban on recognizing same-sex “marriage,” a largely-symbolic gesture for LGBT “equality” ensuring the state status quo would remain if the national one changed in the future.
Senate Bill 24-014 strikes from the Colorado legal code language stating marriages can only be recognized as valid if “between one man and one woman.” It passed the state House 45-14 and the state Senate 29-6 and was signed into law on April 7. The statutory repeal follows a ballot initiative that passed last November removing the traditional definition of marriage from the Colorado Constitution.
“Colorado is for everyone, no matter who you are or who you love,” declared Polis, who is openly gay. “Last November, the voters got rid of outdated language in our constitution that banned same-sex marriage. This is a long overdue step in the right direction, and today’s law I’m signing ensures that Coloradans can marry who they love in our Colorado for all.”
As a practical matter, Colorado’s statutory prohibition on same-sex “marriage” has not been enforceable since 2015, when the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges ruling forced all 50 states to recognize homosexual unions as marriages (which was codified in 2023 when former President Joe Biden signed the so-called Respect for Marriage Act). But repeal also serves as a symbolic gesture of solidarity with LGBT activists and Democrats’ left-wing base as well as insurance against hypothetical future changes in federal or judicial precedent.
Although none are enforceable, 32 states still have same-sex “marriage” bans on the books, according to World Population Review (which lists 33 but has not yet been updated to reflect Colorado’s latest change). Only 18 states plus the District of Columbia have no ban in place.
Meanwhile, at least half a dozen states have adopted resolutions urging the nation’s highest court to revere Obergefell. They have no legal force or can they begin any legal battle that could eventually put the issue back before the nation’s highest court, but they raise awareness of an issue that, while long since declared “settled” by the establishments of both parties, set the stage for today’s battles over transgenderism, surrogacy, and religious freedom.
Three of the current sitting justices — Chief Justice John Roberts and conservatives Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito — dissented from Obergefell. The latter two are considered reliable votes to overturn if the chance arises, given statements both have made in the years since. But it is less certain how Roberts and the Court’s three more recent Republican appointees would rule, given their views of precedent and mixed records on cases important to conservatives.
Social conservatives are likely to have an uphill battle on the issue for the foreseeable future. In July 2024, the Republican Party adopted a dramatically shortened national platform with various changes sought by President Donald Trump. Among them was removing language declaring that “Traditional marriage and family, based on marriage between one man and one woman, is the foundation for a free society,” and calling for that understanding to be reflected in law, including with the “reversal” of Obergefell as judicial activism.
