Mississippi Legislature passed HCR 56 proposing constitutional ban on same-sex marriage; enacted as Section 263-A

On April 14, 2004, the Mississippi Legislature completed passage of House Concurrent Resolution 56 by signing the enrolled resolution, formally referring a proposed amendment to Article XIV of the Mississippi Constitution to a statewide vote as Chapter 620. Authored by Rep. Barnett with 53 co-authors, the resolution proposed adding new Section 263-A to the 1890 Mississippi Constitution, declaring that marriage is valid in the state only between a man and a woman and that same-gender marriages contracted in other states or countries are void and unenforceable in Mississippi.

The House first adopted HCR 56 on March 1, 2004, by a vote of 97–17; the Senate followed on April 7, 2004, unanimously (51–0). Both chambers then signed the enrolled resolution—the Senate on April 13 and the House on April 14—completing the Legislature's constitutional referral. Because Mississippi law required voter approval to amend the state constitution, the Legislature's action placed the marriage ban before voters at the November 2004 general election rather than enacting it directly.

The resolution targeted same-sex couples with a facially discriminatory constitutional provision, denying them access to the civil institution of marriage under Mississippi law and refusing recognition of marriages validly contracted in other jurisdictions. By embedding the restriction in the state constitution rather than ordinary statute, the Legislature required a supermajority legislative vote plus a popular referendum to reverse the policy, raising the barrier for future remedy well beyond simple legislative repeal and insulating the discriminatory classification from ordinary democratic revision.

Updates

2004-11-02 — Mississippi voters ratified Amendment 1 by 86 percent [3]

Mississippi voters ratified Amendment 1 by 86.01% yes to 13.99% no (957,104 to 155,648 votes), the widest approval margin of any state same-sex marriage constitutional ban passed in the 2004 election cycle. The amendment took effect as Section 263-A of the Mississippi Constitution of 1890.

2015-06-26 — U.S. Supreme Court rendered Amendment 1 void in Obergefell v. Hodges [4]

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses guarantee same-sex couples the right to marry nationwide, rendering Section 263-A unenforceable. Federal Judge Carlton Reeves subsequently ordered Mississippi officials to cease enforcing the state's marriage restrictions; all Mississippi counties began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples by July 2, 2015.