(Colorado Newsline) A defunct ban on same-sex marriage added to the Colorado Constitution in 2006 has now been repealed by voters.

Amendment J, referred to the 2024 ballot by the Colorado General Assembly, had 63.6 percent of the vote as of 9 p.m. Tuesday. The Associated Press called the race at 8:50 p.m. As a constitutional amendment, the measure needed 55 percent of the vote to pass.

The measure removes language added by a previous constitutional amendment, approved by Colorado voters 18 years ago, that stated that “only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state.”

That provision has been inoperative since the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide. But supporters of Amendment J argued it was necessary to protect LGBTQ+ rights that have been put at risk by the U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative majority.

The measure was backed by the Freedom to Marry Colorado campaign, which received funding from organizations including the Rose Community Foundation, the Human Rights Campaign and LGBTQ+ advocacy group One Colorado.

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