Nevada has become the first state to recognize the right for same-sex couples to marry in its constitution thanks to a ballot measure that voters approved in this week’s election, CBS News reports.
Nevada Question 2 ensures that same-sex marriage is considered a constitutional right in the state, and undoes the ban on same-sex marriage that was included in a constitutional amendment in the 2000 and 2002 elections. The measure passed on Tuesday will protect same-sex marriage in the state even if the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 decision that legalized it across the country is overturned.
"This overwhelming majority should be a reminder that LGBTQ equality is not just the right thing to do, it is exactly what Nevadans want," said Briana Escamilla, the director of Human Rights Campaign's Nevada chapter.
"I am just so elated that Nevada is the first state to take that stand and my community has taken that stand," Reno resident Lyric Burt told the Reno Gazette Journal. "Because we've voted red for so long in a lot of presidential elections, it got this reputation for being a really conservative state. But there are some things in our state that show that we are progressive."
''It’s so exciting that it passed. It’s been a very long process," added YeVonne Allen, who is the program director for Truckee Meadows Community College’s Equity, Inclusion and Sustainability Office. "Nevada was one of the few states in 2000 that voted to make [marriage] in its constitution between a man and a woman. Fast forward to the twenty-teens and people realized how bad it was to have that in our constitution."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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