Arizona Legislature referred SCR1042, a constitutional same-sex marriage ban, to voters

On June 27, 2008, the Arizona Senate concurred in House amendments and gave final passage to Senate Concurrent Resolution 1042, referring to voters a proposed amendment to the Arizona Constitution adding Article XXX, which provides that "only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state." The Senate had unanimously adopted the resolution March 26, 2008, and the House passed it May 12, 2008; the enrolled measure was filed with the Secretary of State June 30, 2008, as Chapter 99 of the Laws of 2008.

The referral came two years after Arizona voters rejected a broader 2006 measure, Proposition 107, which would also have barred civil unions and domestic-partnership benefits and lost 51.4%-48.6% — making Arizona the first state to defeat a state constitutional same-sex marriage ban at the ballot. SCR1042's narrower, marriage-only text was designed to avoid the backlash that sank the 2006 effort. Voters approved the resulting measure as Proposition 102 on November 4, 2008, by a margin of 56.2%-43.8%, amending marriage recognition out of reach of the legislature and the courts alike.

Updates

2014-10-17 — Federal judge struck down Arizona's same-sex marriage ban as unconstitutional [4]

U.S. District Judge John W. Sedwick ruled Article XXX unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment in Majors v. Jeanes, citing binding Ninth Circuit precedent; Arizona's attorney general declined to appeal and directed all county clerks to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples immediately.

2015-06-26 — Obergefell v. Hodges nationally superseded Article XXX [5]

The U.S. Supreme Court held in Obergefell v. Hodges that the Fourteenth Amendment requires states to license and recognize same-sex marriages, rendering Article XXX unenforceable nationwide; the provision remains unrepealed in the text of the Arizona Constitution.