Same Sex Marriage Ballot Measure Advances In NE Legislature

(AP Lincoln NE February 13, 2021) A proposed ballot measure that would remove Nebraska’s unenforceable same-sex marriage ban from the state constitution is headed to the full Legislature for debate. The Legislature’s Judiciary Committee advanced the proposed constitutional amendment on Thursday. The measure’s sponsor, Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks, of Lincoln, argues that voters should have the chance to strip the ban out of the Nebraska Constitution, even though the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that such restrictions violate the U.S. Constitution and can’t be enforced. Pansing Brooks says putting the issue on the ballot would allow voters to show that public attitudes toward same-sex marriage have changed in Nebraska.