Louisiana voters ratified HB61/Act 926, adding a same-sex marriage and civil union ban to the state constitution

On September 18, 2004, Louisiana voters approved Constitutional Amendment 1 — originating as House Bill 61 (HB61), sponsored by Rep. Steve Scalise and enacted as Act No. 926 — adding Article XII, Section 15 to the Louisiana Constitution. The provision defined marriage as exclusively the union of one man and one woman and prohibited any official or court in Louisiana from recognizing any other union, including civil unions, as having any legal status substantially equivalent to marriage.

HB61 was prefiled on March 1, 2004, and moved through the legislature at the required two-thirds supermajority threshold. The Louisiana House of Representatives passed the bill on May 18 by 87 yeas to 11 nays; the Louisiana Senate passed the amended version on June 9 by 31 yeas to 6 nays; and the House concurred in the Senate amendments on June 15 by 88 to 13. Under Louisiana's amendment process, the bill did not require the governor's signature and was referred directly to voters. It appeared on the September 18 primary election ballot and was approved by Louisiana voters. The amendment became part of the state constitution, stripping same-sex couples of any pathway to civil recognition by the state.

The amendment was among 11 state constitutional bans on same-sex marriage approved at the polls in 2004. By adding the prohibition to Louisiana's constitution rather than statute, the legislature insulated the discrimination from ordinary legislative repeal and required either a federal court ruling or a subsequent supermajority amendment process to undo it.

Updates

2015-06-26 — U.S. Supreme Court overturns state same-sex marriage bans [3]

On June 26, 2015, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marriage under the Fourteenth Amendment. The ruling invalidated Louisiana's Article XII, Section 15 and all other state bans on same-sex marriage. The majority opinion was authored by Justice Anthony Kennedy, joined by Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan.