"Virginia Democrats have taken another decisive step toward scrubbing the state’s anti-LGBTQ+ past from its constitution. In a 26–13 vote, the Virginia Senate advanced a proposed constitutional amendment that would formally repeal the Commonwealth’s ban on same sex marriage and replace it with explicit protections for marriage equality.

The measure, Senate Joint Resolution 3, was introduced by state Sen. Adam Ebbin, Virginia’s first openly gay legislator. If ultimately approved by voters, the amendment would bar the state from denying a marriage license “to two adult persons seeking a lawful marriage on the basis of the sex, gender, or race of such persons,” and require Virginia to recognize lawful marriages equally under the law.

While same sex marriage has been legal nationwide since 2015, Virginia’s constitution still contains language approved by voters in 2006 defining marriage exclusively as between a man and a woman. That provision has been unenforceable for nearly a decade, but its continued presence has been a source of anxiety for LGBTQ+ couples, particularly as the U.S. Supreme Court has grown more conservative and openly hostile to past civil rights rulings..."