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Kansas Legislature referred SCR1601, a constitutional same-sex marriage ban, to voters

The Kansas Senate adopted 2005 Senate Concurrent Resolution 1601 28-11 on January 13, 2005, and the House of Representatives concurred 86-37 on February 2, 2005, completing the two-thirds supermajority required in both chambers to place a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage before voters. The amendment declared marriage a civil contract between one man and one woman, voided all other marriages, and barred state recognition of any other relationship as entitled to the rights or incidents of marriage; voters ratified it by roughly a 2-to-1 margin at the April 5, 2005 election.

Jurisdiction
Kansas
Location
Topeka, Kansas

Abuses documented

Actors

On February 2, 2005, the Kansas House of Representatives voted 86-37 to concur with the Kansas State Senate's adoption of Senate Concurrent Resolution 1601, completing the two-thirds supermajority required in both chambers to place a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage before voters. The Senate had adopted SCR1601 28-11 on January 13, 2005. The amendment declared marriage a civil contract between one man and one woman, voided all other marriages, and barred state recognition of any other relationship as entitled to the rights or incidents of marriage.

Updates

2005-04-05 — Kansas voters ratified SCR1601 as Article 15, Section 16 of the state constitution [2]

Kansas voters approved the amendment by a margin of roughly two to one at the April 5, 2005 general election, ratifying it as Article 15, Section 16 of the Kansas Constitution.

2015-06-26 — Supreme Court's Obergefell ruling superseded the Kansas marriage ban [3]

The U.S. Supreme Court held in Obergefell v. Hodges that state bans on same-sex marriage violate the U.S. Constitution, superseding Article 15, Section 16. By the end of June 2015, all 105 Kansas counties were issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples or had agreed to do so.

Why we recorded this

The Kansas Legislature completed passage of a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman and voiding recognition of any other relationship's marital rights, entrenching discrimination against same-sex couples in the state constitution and placing it beyond ordinary legislative correction.

Sources

  1. Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 1601 (enrolled text) — Kansas State Legislature primary accessed July 20, 2026
  2. Same-sex marriage in Kansas — Wikipedia secondary accessed July 20, 2026
  3. Kansas Constitution — List of Amendments and Proposed Amendments — Kansas Secretary of State secondary accessed July 20, 2026

See also