2005 Kansas Amendment 1
Kansas Amendment 1, which was put before voters on April 5, 2005, is an amendment to the Kansas Constitution that makes it unconstitutional for the state to recognize or perform same-sex marriages or civil unions. The referendum was approved by 70% of the voters.
The amendment states:
The Kansas Equality Coalition grew out of the organized but ultimately unsuccessful political opposition to the amendment. The KEC is a statewide group of people determined to end discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.
Impact of Supreme Court decisions
Following the Supreme Court decision in Schmidt v. Moriarty in 2014, 19 Kansas counties began issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples. Following the ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015, all Kansas counties were issuing same sex marriage certificates. The combination of the Supreme Court decisions, effectively, albeit unofficially, overturned the constitutional amendment.