Vermont ballot measure would add gender identity to state constitution 

Vermonters will choose whether they want to add “gender identity” and “gender expression” to the state constitution this November.

Proposal 4 would add a new equal protection section in the Vermont Constitution. It would include race, ethnicity, sex, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and national origin.

“The State shall not deny equal treatment under the law” based on those traits, the proposal says.

A final sentence says the amendment couldn’t be used to block measures meant to provide equal treatment and opportunity for groups who have faced discrimination.

The measure’s supporters say the language would protect those who have historically faced discrimination, but opponents say it would result in different treatment for different groups of people.

Vermont law already bans discrimination based on so-called gender identity in employment, housing and public accommodations. It added those protections in 2007.

Putting the language in the constitution would make it harder for future lawmakers to remove. It would also let the Vermont Supreme Court, not legislators, decide how it impacts state laws, school rules and agency decisions.

Big Hartman, executive director of the Vermont Human Rights Commission, said the court would be where the language is “tested out and interpreted.” Hartman told Vermont Public the amendment would stop “the rolling back … of any protections” already found in state law.

“The federal Constitution represents a floor, not a ceiling, of rights. It shows us the minimum we can do, not the maximum,” state Rep. Barbara Rachelson, D-Burlington, said while presenting the measure. “Therefore, it’s important that Vermont develop its own jurisprudence regarding equal protection, and not simply rely on the one found in our federal Constitution.”

Advocates say the proposal applies to state action and wouldn’t require churches to change their beliefs.

However, the amendment could impact things such as girls’ sports, school privacy rules, foster care and religious groups receiving public benefits.

Vermont officials have already faced two federal lawsuits involving Christians opposed to state gender identity policies.

A federal appeals court ruled in 2025 that the Vermont Principals’ Association had to readmit Mid Vermont Christian School. The association expelled the school after its girls basketball team forfeited a game against a team with a male transgender athlete.

The court said the school was likely to show officials “displayed hostility toward the school’s religious beliefs.” The association later agreed to pay $566,000 to settle the case.

Vermont settled another case in February after the state revoked the foster care licenses of two Christian families. The state changed its policy so that foster parents don’t have to endorse specific identities or use state-approved language about gender identity or sexual orientation to get a license.

The amendment’s opponents say the new language could roll back these and other wins when gender identity policies conflict with religious beliefs or parental rights.

State Rep. Michael Boutin, R-Barre, said he supports equal protection but opposes the amendment’s wording.

“It is a finite list and ambiguous third sentence that concerns me,” Boutin said. “But I do not believe our Constitution should be written in a way that appears to create different standards of equality for different groups. Equal protection should mean equal protection for every Vermonter.”

Vermont Law and Graduate School professor Peter Teachout voiced similar concerns during testimony to lawmakers. He called the wording “flawed” and the proposal’s purpose section “ambiguous.”