Talk of momentum, however accurate it might be regarding public opinion polls, is quickly going to hit a roadblock — 30 of them in fact — that won’t simply crumble after an impassioned floor speech or, as with Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, after learning that he has a gay son. The roadblocks are the 30 state constitutional amendments like the one in Nevada banning gay couples from marrying — and keeping even more progressive states like California and Oregon from moving forward on the marriage front.

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers in the Nevada Assembly voted 27-14 on Thursday to reverse the state’s 2002 marriage amendment, and while the state Senate had already voted to end the ban, Nevada same-sex couples won’t have a shot at marriage until 2016.

Why?

Like the dozens of other states that passed constitutional marriage amendments, Nevada’s 2002 amendment can only be reversed through another constitutional amendment, a process that can take significant time and money.

In Nevada, the state’s constitutional amendment process requires two consecutive legislatures to vote to send the amendment to the people before the people would vote on the repeal. As such, even if all goes as advocates hope, the soonest gay and lesbian couples could marry in Nevada is after the 2016 elections.

That lengthy process has not, however, been the picture America has seen in recent months.

Lawmakers from Rhode to Delaware and Minnesota have voted for marriage equality legislation in recent weeks. In Illinois, the bill’s sponsor has said the House will concur in the Senate’s vote in support of marriage equality legislation there by the end of the month. Lawmakers in DC are much more commonly expressing support for the once divisive issue. And the Supreme Court is considering cases that could affect same-sex couples across the country.

Talk of momentum, however accurate it might be regarding public opinion polls, is quickly going to hit a roadblock — 30 of them in fact — that won’t simply crumble after an impassioned floor speech or, as with Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, after learning that he has a gay son.

The roadblocks are the 30 state constitutional amendments like the one in Nevada banning gay couples from marrying — and keeping even more progressive states like California and Oregon from moving forward on the marriage front.

“We’re quickly getting to a place of having two Americas when it comes to LGBT people,” Human Rights Campaign spokesman Michael Cole-Schwartz told BuzzFeed this week, detailing the wide range of rights the LGBT people have in some states and the harsh barriers to equality that LGBT people face in other parts of the country.
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