Marriage equality overdue

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Feb 03, 2013

~~<p>Hawaii's Supreme Court in 1993 became the first high court of any state to find the refusal to marry a same-sex couple to be discriminatory. Now, two decades later, it's time for the state to circle back to that position of equanimity with the legalization of same-sex marriage.</p>
<p>When the decision in Baehr v. Miike was issued, state lawmakers moved quickly to foreclose on the claim by legally defining marriage as a compact only for heterosexual couples, a definition ultimately endorsed in a popular vote to amend the state Constitution. The trend backing a more traditional view of marriage was underscored on the federal level with the passage of the Defense of Marriage Act.</p>
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Hawaii's Supreme Court in 1993 became the first high court of any state to find the refusal to marry a same-sex couple to be discriminatory. Now, two decades later, it's time for the state to circle back to that position of equanimity with the legalization of same-sex marriage.

When the decision in Baehr v. Miike was issued, state lawmakers moved quickly to foreclose on the claim by legally defining marriage as a compact only for heterosexual couples, a definition ultimately endorsed in a popular vote to amend the state Constitution. The trend backing a more traditional view of marriage was underscored on the federal level with the passage of the Defense of Marriage Act. Login for more...