Hawaii gay marriage

News That Matters Support us. Same-sex marriage has been legal in Hawaii since and legal in the U. But that does not mean it is accepted by everyone, including many who remain in influential positions. A new coalition of local organizations that includes the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii has formed to push for repealing a section of the Hawaii Constitution they worry makes the right vulnerable to opposition.

The Change 23 Coalition wants to put the constitutional amendment before voters next year. The coalition says it will demonstrate that the state where the same-sex-marriage struggle began 30 years ago is still a leader in civil rights. Ina ruling by the Hawaii Supreme Court made Hawaii the first state to consider legal challenges to same-sex marriage bans.

If voters do as the coalition wishes, they will reverse what voters did inwhen more than two out of three voters approved a constitutional amendment that gave lawmakers the power to limit marriage to opposite-sex couples. Hawaii approved same-sex marriage inabout a year and a half before the U. Supreme Court. But it took a special session that drew thousands of passionate testifiers on both sides.

It also was not a unanimous vote. The first is getting both chambers of the Hawaii Legislature next year to approve by a gay majority putting a constitutional amendment before voters in November. Then the constitutional amendment needs a majority of votes tallied for approval.

Only constitutional amendments have this requirementand it has impacted the outcome of elections. Infor example, a plurality of voters voted in marriage of a hawaii measure to hold a constitutional convention.

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But the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that the blank and over-votes had to be included in the total, and so there was no ConCon. Hong said the Change 23 Coalition will work hard to get the vote out in both cases. In the Legislature, he said Sen. Chris Lee and Rep. Adrian Tam are helping champion the repeal. The Change 23 Coalition is worried that a rising conservative tide could result in the rescinding of same-sex marriage rights.

They point to the fact that there are still three U. Supreme Court justices who dissented in the landmark 5-to-4 decision in Obergefell v. Thanks to the Trump administration, the court is even now more conservative. In a 6-to-3 decision last summer — Dobbs v. Jackson — it rejected nearly a half century of precedence by taking away the constitutional right to an abortion.

After striking down Roe v. Griswold v.