I have an idea for future referenda, at least on the state level:

If a state has a referendum/initiative and at least 30-40% of the registered voting residents of the state vote in favor of the losing opinion, then the areas in which the losing opinion is strongest should be guaranteed the right to secede from the state and not be subjected to the majority opinion.

I think that such a referendum would work best to settle acrimonious debates which split an entire population without resulting in bloodshed or violent disenfranchisement at the local level, as has happened in a large portion of referenda which have been held in the U.S. and other countries. I also think that it is a more procedural, cleaner process by which minorities’s opinions are protected from outright dismissal by a tyranny of the popular vote or tyranny of the court; we wouldn’t have to bring up such movements as that of KnowThyNeighbor.org and its anti-LGBT counterparts, and we wouldn’t have to hear the whinging of the other side over potential petitioner intimidation.