Women file suit for right to marry

Two Honolulu women are suing Gov. Neil Abercrombie and the state health director in federal court over the state’s denial of same-sex marriages.

Natasha N. Jackson and Janin Kleid said in their lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court Wednesday, that they tried to get a marriage license on Nov. 18, but the state Health Department denied them one because they are both women. They claim that the state’s refusal to issue them a marriage license violates their due process and equal protection rights guaranteed them by the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

John J. D’Amato is one of their lawyers.

"Our clients want to marry. They want the state to tell us why they can’t marry. They want the state to tell us what is it about being two women prevents them from marrying," D’Amato said.

Abercrombie spokeswoman Donalyn Dela Cruz said the state has no comment on the lawsuit because officials haven’t seen it. She said the Health Department is gearing up for the state’s civil unions law, which Abercrombie approved in February and which takes effect Jan. 1.

HawaiiNewsNow Video: Couple sues state to get same sex marriage rights

The law allows a couple — same-sex or heterosexual — to enter into a civil union, a legal status that provides all the rights, benefits, protections and responsibilities under state law as traditional marriage.

Same-sex marriages are not allowed under state law.

Hawaii voters in 1998 ratified a constitutional amendment giving the Legislature "the power to reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples."

Lawmakers had already approved such a law the previous year.

Congress in 1996 approved the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as a legal union between a man and a woman and allows states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages approved by other states.

Since then lawmakers in New Hampshire, Vermont and the District of Columbia approved laws legalizing same-sex marriage.

Court rulings in Massachusetts, Iowa, Connecticut and California have legalized same-sex marriage in those states. The California ruling is on appeal.

The Connecticut ruling came even after lawmakers approved civil-union legislation similar to Hawaii’s. The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that the civil-union law created a second-class citizenship status for same-sex couples.

Earlier this year President Barack Obama said his administration will no longer defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act.

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee approved a repeal of the law last month, but proponents say they don’t have support for the legislation in Congress.