CALIFORNIA, USA — Proposition 3 would enshrine the right to same-sex marriage into the California constitution, repealing Proposition 8 — a measure approved by voters in 2008 that defined marriage as between a man and a woman.
In practice, the ballot measure would not change who can marry.
Why is it on the ballot?
California, the state with the nation’s largest LGBTQ population, was thrust into national spotlight in 2004, when then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, defying a federal ban on gay marriage. The California Supreme Court quickly shut it down, and Californians voted in 2008 to ban same-sex marriage in the state.
That language — while still on the books — is effectively void after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013 allowed same-sex marriage to resume in California, and the high court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in a historic 2015 decision. In 2020, Nevada became the first state to enshrine the right to same-sex marriage in its constitution.
California state Sen. Scott Wiener and Assemblymember Evan Low, both Democrats in the Legislative LGBTQ Caucus, introduced the constitutional amendment as a preemptive protection after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned federal abortion protections in 2022. Justice Clarence Thomas, a conservative, said that the court should also reconsider the constitutionality of same-sex marriage, but other conservatives on the bench disagreed.
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