Repeal of Legislature's authority over same-sex marriages considered

Mar. 7—The state Senate will now consider a House bill calling for a constitutional amendment to repeal the Legislature's authority to limit marriage to opposite-sex couples.

The state Senate will now consider a House bill calling for a constitutional amendment to repeal the Legislature's authority to limit marriage to opposite-sex couples.

Same-sex marriage has been legal in the islands for 10 years, as of December, following the enactment of the Hawaii Marriage Equality Act.

But House Speaker Scott Saiki—who introduced House Bill 2802—worries that recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings, especially in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, could lead to the court undermining same-sex marriages.

"This measure seeks to safeguard marriage equality by removing the Legislature's authority to restrict marriage, allowing the voters of Hawai 'i to determine the future of marriage rights for our state, " Saiki said in a statement.

The latest version of HB 2802 calls for a general election ballot question on Nov. 5 that would ask voters, "Shall the state constitution be amended to repeal the Legislature's authority to reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples ?"

State Rep. Adrian Tam, (D, Waikiki ), co-convenor of the Equality Caucus, said in a statement that HB 2802 represents "the first step to removing discriminatory language that should've never been in the constitution in the first place and unfairly excluded the LGBTQ + community for the past 26 years. Our constitution should reflect inclusivity, embracing the rights of every individual, including the LGBTQ + community."

Same-sex marriage for years had been overwhelmingly opposed locally and in other parts of the country.

In 1998, 69 % of Hawaii residents supported a constitutional amendment that marriage should be reserved for opposite-sex couples and gave the Legislature the power to restrict marriages to only opposite-­sex couples.

Today, same-sex marriages have about 70 % support locally and nationally.

Dan Foley represented early litigants in the fight for marriage equality as an attorney and later presided over one of the first same-sex marriages in Hawaii as a judge.

On the eve of the 10th anniversary of the Hawaii Marriage Equality Act in December, Foley told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that no other social issue in Hawaii and the rest of the country has seen such a huge swing from overwhelming opposition to overwhelming support.

But getting same-sex marriages legal in Hawaii did not happen without a fight.

During a 2013 legislative special session, the House Judiciary and Finance committees held five days of hearings that lasted into the night and saw 4, 064 people testify in opposition, most of them bused to the Capitol auditorium by Hawaii churches.

Thirty-seven states had banned same-sex marriages. Then-President Bill Clinton signed the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, which restricted marriages to couples of opposite genders, and same-sex marriages were opposed by then-Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden, who later as president repealed the Defense of Marriage Act.

But then-Gov. Neil Abercrombie signed Senate Bill 1 into law, making same-sex marriages legal in Hawaii.

Asked in December about the significance of his signature, Abercrombie told the Star-Advertiser that making same-sex marriages legal was "by far " his most important act as governor "because it changed lives."