On July 28, 2014, a ruling by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Bostic v. Schaefer found Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional.
As a result, on October 9, 2014, Governor Earl Ray Tomblin announced he was ordering state agencies to act in compliance with the controlling precedent in the Virginia case.
The amendment was heavily supported by Evangelical groups in the state and the Family Council Policy of West Virginia.
In December 2011, Delegate John Doyle introduced a bill to legalize civil unions in West Virginia as one of his last acts before retirement in 2012.
[9] On June 10, 2014, Judge Chambers ordered a stay of proceedings until a ruling in Bostic v. Schaefer, a case in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals that challenged Virginia's denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples.
Following a decision in favor of same-sex marriage rights in Bostic on July 28, the parties in McGee filed competing motions with the district court on whether to allow the case to proceed.
[13] Attorney General Morrisey announced on October 9 that he would no longer defend the suit since the U.S. Supreme Court had declined to review Bostic, which had found Virginia's denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples unconstitutional.
[14] On October 9, 2014, Governor Earl Ray Tomblin announced he was ordering state agencies to act in compliance with the recent decisions of federal courts on the unconstitutionality of same-sex marriage bans.
[23] According to a 2016 Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) survey, West Virginia was one of the only three U.S. states where a majority of residents were opposed to same-sex marriage; the others being Arkansas and Mississippi.