A Virginia pastor and a conservative legal advocacy group have filed a lawsuit seeking to block a proposed constitutional amendment protecting same-sex marriage.
Voters in Virginia will decide Nov. 3 whether to remove the state constitution’s existing ban on same-sex marriage, a provision rendered unenforceable by a 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision.
The Founding Freedoms Law Center (FFLC) brought the legal challenge last week on behalf of Ben Purves, pastor of community and member care at Occoquan Bible Church in Woodbridge, filing the complaint in Prince William County Circuit Court.
The plaintiffs argue that officials did not properly carry out the public notification requirements necessary for advancing a proposed constitutional amendment to a statewide vote.
Under Virginia Code § 30-13, the complaint states, the Clerk of the House of Delegates was required to publish and distribute copies of the amendment to circuit court clerks throughout Virginia. Those clerks were then obligated to display one copy at the courthouse entrance and provide another for public inspection at least three months before the Nov. 4, 2025, House of Delegates election. The lawsuit contends that these procedures were not followed.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare the amendment invalid, even if it receives majority voter approval in the Nov. 3 election, on the grounds that its advancement violated the Virginia Constitution.
In a statement issued Monday, FFLC President Victoria Cobb maintained that any effort to revise the state’s constitutional definition of marriage must comply with established legal requirements.
“When we fought to pass the original Marriage Amendment two decades ago, we made sure it was done the right way, according to law,” Cobb said. “If it’s now going to be changed, it needs to be done the right way, and that was not done.”
At issue is a proposed amendment that would overturn the Marshall-Newman Amendment, adopted in 2006, which recognizes marriage exclusively as a union between one man and one woman. The new measure would prevent Virginia from refusing marriage licenses to two adults on the basis of sex, gender or race and require equal recognition of lawful marriages.
The existing restriction has had no legal effect since the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in its 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision. However, the state prohibition could potentially become enforceable again if the justices reversed that precedent.
Advocates of the proposed constitutional change contend that explicitly protecting same-sex marriage under Virginia law would safeguard those rights against possible shifts in federal constitutional protections.
Virginians for Marriage Equality, an organization supporting the amendment, has cautioned that reversing the Supreme Court’s marriage ruling could threaten important legal benefits and protections for same-sex couples.
“If the same thing happens with marriage equality, thousands of Virginians will lose hospital visitation rights, inheritance protections, the ability to make medical decisions for a spouse, and the security of knowing their family is recognized by their own state. A constitutional amendment is the only way to protect them,” the gay marriage activist group further claimed.
