2,044 events on record Subscribe September 10, 2026
Standing Record home The Standing Record A non-partisan record of US democratic norms —
and the events that erode them.

Texas Legislature gave final passage to HJR 6, referring same-sex marriage and civil union constitutional ban to voters

On May 21, 2005, the Texas Senate passed House Joint Resolution 6 on a vote of 21 to 8, completing bicameral passage of the measure. The Texas House had passed the amended resolution 101 to 29 on April 25, 2005. HJR 6 proposed a state constitutional amendment declaring that marriage in Texas consists only of the union of one man and one woman and prohibiting the state or any political subdivision from creating or recognizing any legal status identical or similar to marriage for same-sex couples. The resolution was placed on the November 8, 2005 ballot as Proposition 2, where voters approved it by more than 76 percent.

Jurisdiction
Texas
Location
Austin, Texas

Abuses documented

Actors

  • Texas House of Representatives
  • Texas Senate

On May 21, 2005, the Texas Senate gave final approval to House Joint Resolution 6 on a vote of 21 to 8, completing the 79th Legislature's referral of a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and civil unions to Texas voters. The Texas House had earlier passed the resolution 101 to 29 on April 25, 2005, after amending it to add an explicit prohibition on civil unions and any equivalent legal status — language the Senate then adopted without change. Both chambers cleared the two-thirds threshold required by Article 17 of the Texas Constitution for proposing amendments.

HJR 6 proposed adding to the Texas Constitution the declaration that "marriage in this state consists only of the union of one man and one woman," and a second clause barring the state or any political subdivision from creating or recognizing "any legal status identical or similar to marriage" for same-sex couples. The resolution was authored by Rep. Warren Chisum (R-88th district) and co-authored by Reps. Hartnett, Hopson, Howard, and McReynolds.

The measure was certified and filed with the Secretary of State on May 25, 2005, and placed on the November 8, 2005 ballot as Proposition 2.

Updates

2005-11-08 — Texas voters approved Proposition 2, ratifying the constitutional ban [4]

Texas voters approved Proposition 2 by approximately 76 percent in favor, writing the same-sex marriage and civil-union ban into the Texas Constitution.

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

The U.S. Supreme Court held in Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. 644 (2015), that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry under the Fourteenth Amendment, rendering state bans including Texas's Proposition 2 unconstitutional.

Why we recorded this

The Texas Legislature constitutionalized the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage and from any equivalent legal status. By passing HJR 6 with the required two-thirds majorities and placing it on the ballot, the legislature translated anti-LGBTQ political sentiment into an instrument of constitutional discrimination. Voters subsequently approved the amendment by more than 76 percent, embedding the ban into the Texas Constitution and setting a template for similar measures across the country. The episode marks a decisive moment in which state power was used to formally and permanently deny equal civil recognition to same-sex couples.

Sources

  1. 79(R) History for HJR 6 — Texas Legislature Online primary accessed July 21, 2026
  2. Texas Proposition 2 (2005) — Wikipedia secondary accessed July 21, 2026
  3. Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. 644 (2015) — Justia U.S. Supreme Court primary accessed July 21, 2026
  4. Texas Proposition 2, Constitutional Amendment Ban on Same-Sex Marriages (2005) — Ballotpedia investigative accessed July 26, 2026

See also