Pastor sues to block Virginia same-sex marriage amendment
A conservative legal group and a pastor are challenging a proposed amendment to the Virginia Constitution that, if passed, would make same-sex marriage a state constitutional right.
Virginia voters will decide next week whether the Commonwealth will repeal a state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage that is currently unenforceable.
The Founding Freedoms Law Center filed a lawsuit on behalf of Ben Purves, pastor of community and member care at Occoquan Bible Church in Woodbridge, against various state officials over the proposed amendment, citing procedural grounds.
The complaint, filed last week in the Circuit Court of the County of Prince William, alleges that the proposed amendment did not follow proper procedure for approval to be on the ballot.
“Virginia Code § 30-13 requires the Clerk of the House of Delegates to have published and distributed copies of a proposed amendment to the clerks of Virginia’s circuit courts, and requires each circuit court clerk to post a copy ‘at the front door of the courthouse’ and make a second copy ‘available for public inspection,’ no later than three months before the intervening general election of members of the House of Delegates,” reads the lawsuit.
“These steps exist to inform the voters before the pivotal House of Delegates election. They were not performed before the November 4, 2025 general election by the Clerk of the House of Delegates or the Circuit Court Clerk or any other Virginia circuit court.”
The complaint went on to argue that the circuit court “should declare that the Proposed Amendment was not brought forward in compliance with Article XII, § 1 of the Constitution of Virginia, and that the Proposed Amendment, if passed by a majority of the voters in the November 3, 2026 election, is invalid and of no effect.”
Named defendants include the Virginia State Board of Elections, the Virginia Department of Elections, Virginia House of Delegates Clerk G. Paul Nardo, Prince William County Circuit Court Clerk Jacqueline Smith and the Prince William County Electoral Board.
“When we fought to pass the original Marriage Amendment two decades ago, we made sure it was done the right way, according to law,” said FFLC President Victoria Cobb in a statement released Monday. “If it’s now going to be changed, it needs to be done the right way, and that was not done.”
FFLC is making the same procedural argument in a separate lawsuit against the proposed abortion amendment.
Purves also led an open letter, signed by more than 400 Virginia pastors, urging voters to reject both the same-sex marriage and abortion amendments.
The proposed same-sex marriage amendment would repeal a 2006 state constitutional amendment, known as the Marshall-Newman Amendment, which defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The proposed measure would also bar the state from denying a marriage license to two adults because of their sex, gender or race.
Although the 2006 amendment is unenforceable due to the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling Obergefell v. Hodges, it could take effect again if that decision were overturned.
“The Marshall-Newman Amendment is still there, just waiting for federal law to change. And the Supreme Court has demonstrated a willingness to overturn longstanding precedent like in the Dobbs decision,” stated the group Virginians for Marriage Equality.
“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.
