Utah Legislature gave final passage to HJR025, proposing constitutional ban on same-sex marriage

On March 3, 2004, the Utah Legislature gave final passage to House Joint Resolution 25 (HJR025), proposing to enact Article I, Section 29 of the Utah Constitution, providing that "Marriage consists only of the legal union between a man and a woman" and that "No other domestic union, however denominated, may be recognized as a marriage or given the same or substantially equivalent legal effect." The Utah House of Representatives had passed the resolution on February 24, 2004, by a vote of 56-16-3. The Senate passed it 20-7-2 on March 3 after adding a floor amendment, and the House concurred with the amendment 58-14-3 on the same day, completing the legislative referral. The resolution directed the Lieutenant Governor to submit the proposed amendment to voters at the next general election; the enrolled bill was transmitted to the Lieutenant Governor's office on March 15, 2004.

HJR025 was sponsored in the House by Rep. LaVar Christensen and carried on the Senate floor by Sen. D. Chris Buttars. The resolution was distinct from a concurrent statutory ban, Senate Bill 24 (SB0024), passed during the same 2004 session, which amended existing law to prohibit recognition of same-sex marriages solemnized in other states. The constitutional amendment route was chosen to place the restriction beyond ordinary legislative revision and judicial review under the state constitution.

Updates

2004-11-02 — Utah voters approved Amendment 3 by 65.8%–33.2%, enacting the constitutional ban [2]

Utah voters approved Amendment 3 on November 2, 2004, by a margin of 65.8% to 33.2% (593,297 votes for, 307,488 against), ratifying the constitutional definition of marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman. The amendment took effect on January 1, 2005.

2013-12-20 — Federal district court struck down Amendment 3 in Kitchen v. Herbert [3]

On December 20, 2013, U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby struck down Amendment 3 in Kitchen v. Herbert, No. 2:13-cv-00217 (D. Utah), holding that Utah's constitutional prohibition on same-sex marriage violated the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. Same-sex marriages in Utah continued for 17 days until the U.S. Supreme Court stayed the ruling on January 6, 2014; the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed on June 25, 2014. The cases were ultimately resolved by the Supreme Court in Obergefell v. Hodges (see below).

2015-06-26 — Obergefell v. Hodges rendered Amendment 3 unenforceable [2]

The U.S. Supreme Court held in Obergefell v. Hodges (576 U.S. 644) that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry under the Fourteenth Amendment, rendering Amendment 3 and all similar state constitutional marriage bans unenforceable as a matter of federal constitutional law.