Page:Colorado State Constitution (2020).pdf/12

 orientation, conduct, practices or relationships shall constitute or otherwise be the basis of or entitle any person or class of persons to have or claim any minority status, quota preferences, protected status or claim of discrimination. This Section of the Constitution shall be in all respects self-executing.

Source: Initiated 92: Entire section added, see L. 93, p. 2164.

Editor's note: (1) Although this section was numbered as section 30 as it appeared on the ballot, for ease of location, it has been numbered as section 30b.

(2) In the case Evans v. Romer, Denver District Court found this section unconstitutional and permanently enjoined its enforcement (see Evans v. Romer, 854 P.2d 1270 (Colo. 1993)). The Colorado Supreme Court affirmed the district court's ruling (see Evans v. Romer, 882 P.2d 1335 (Colo. 1994)), and the United States Supreme Court affirmed the Colorado Supreme Court's ruling (517 U.S. 620, 116 S.Ct. 1620, 134 L.Ed.2d 855 (1996)).

Section 31.Marriages - valid or recognized. Only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state.

Source: Initiated 2006: Entire section added, effective upon proclamation of the Governor, L. 2007, p. 2962, December 31, 2006.

Editor's note: (1) In Kitchen v. Herbert, 755 F.3d 1193 (10th Cir. 2014), the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the fundamental right to marry, establish a family, raise children, and enjoy the full protection of a state's marital laws. A state may not deny the issuance of a marriage license to two persons, or refuse to recognize their marriage, based solely upon the sex of the persons in the marriage union.

(2) In Bishop v. Smith, 760 F.3d 1070 (10th Cir. 2014), the Tenth Circuit held that Oklahoma's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage that states "Marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman." violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by precluding same-sex couples from receiving an Oklahoma marriage license. The Tenth Circuit has jurisdiction over Colorado in addition to Utah and Oklahoma, and section 31 of article II of the state constitution is similar to the constitutional provisions of those states. On January 16, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court granted petitions for writs of certiorari in consolidated cases from Sixth Circuit states that also had similar provisions.

(3) In Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. __ (2015), the U.S. Supreme Court interpreted state constitutional and statutory provisions similar to section 31 of article II of the state constitution and to this provision and held that the right to marry is a fundamental right and that the Fourteenth Amendment requires a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex and to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out of state.

Colorado Revised Statutes 2020