The state House, turning back furious — if futile — pleas for delay, voted late Friday to grant marriage equality to gay and lesbian couples.
The 30-19 vote sends the bill to the state Senate, which is inclined to agree to the House version Tuesday and transmit the bill to Gov. Neil Abercrombie for his signature.
Gay couples could get married in Hawaii as soon as Dec. 2. Clergy would have the right to refuse to perform gay weddings. Churches and other religious organizations would be able to decline to provide goods, services and facilities for gay weddings and celebrations if it violates religious beliefs.
Minutes after the vote, Abercrombie said in a news release: "I commend the House of Representatives for taking this historic vote to move justice and equality forward.
"After more than 50 hours of public testimony from thousands of testifiers on both sides of the issue, evaluating dozens of amendments, and deliberating procedures through hours of floor debates, the House passed this significant bill, which directly creates a balance between marriage equity for same-sex couples and protects our First Amendment freedoms for religious organizations."
On the House floor, Rep. Sylvia Luke (D, Punchbowl-Pauoa-Nuuanu) said that the bill not only recognizes same-sex marriage, but also represents a move toward "acceptance, tolerance and compassion."
Rep. Chris Lee (D, Kailua-Lanikai-Waimanalo) likened marriage equality to women’s suffrage, racial equality and interracial marriage. "We can no longer allow the rights of one minority to be ignored," he said. "We should know better. In Hawaii we are all minorities, and we all deserve the same dignity and respect."
Rep. K. Mark Takai (D, Halawa-Aiea-Newtown), who had been undecided on marriage equality until announcing his support in October, explained his vote was rooted in love.
"It’s the wrong love, brah," one man in the House gallery barked.
Rep. Bob McDermott (R, Ewa Beach-Iroquois Point) warned lawmakers that the bill might be ruled unconstitutional by the courts. He believes a 1998 constitutional amendment approved by voters that gave the Legislature the power to reserve marriage to heterosexual couples trumps any statutory change to the law.
"I can’t believe I’m the only one who sees this," said McDermott, who maintains that another vote by the people is necessary to redefine marriage.
Hundreds of people outside the state Capitol — carefully separated by security — waved signs for marriage equality or relentlessly chanted "Let the people vote!" during the daylong House deliberations.
Inside the House chamber, one of the most raucous moments came in the late afternoon when Abercrombie took a seat in the gallery to watch the floor debate. Gay-marriage advocates applauded the governor, but opponents vigorously booed him. One man stood and loudly heckled the governor for not following God’s word.
Several lawmakers complained that the process has been rushed and that they did not have the opportunity to take the bill back to their communities for vetting. But left unsaid was the fact that most of the lawmakers who have faulted the process during the special session are opposed to gay marriage and would likely continue to reject the idea no matter when the Legislature chose to take up a bill.
Recognizing the protesters outside, Rep. Richard Fale (R, Waialua-Kahuku-Waiahole) said the issue has divided the islands and again urged lawmakers to let the voters decide. "I trust them," he said. "We all should trust them."
With the outcome foreshadowed by a procedural vote Wednesday night, some of the intensity had been drained from the lawmakers who oppose gay marriage.
Many lawmakers made the identical arguments on the identical amendments that they had offered two days earlier because they wanted the chance to have their views televised by Capitol TV on ‘Olelo, which had not aired the floor session Wednesday. Others executed their maneuvers with the enthusiasm of a chess player who had realized their king could no longer escape capture.
The House disposed of Republican amendments to establish a task force to study the potential impact of marriage equality, to allow parents to opt their children out of school instruction on homosexuality, to provide a "conscience exemption" so individuals and small businesses could refuse service to gay couples, and to entirely exempt churches and religious organizations from the state’s public accommodations law.
Rep. Marcus Oshiro (D, Wahiawa-Whitmore-Poamoho), as he did Wednesday, offered a series of amendments that would have added a state version of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, an inseverability clause that would have invalidated the entire law if one provision were struck down by the courts, and a "conscience exemption" for individuals and small businesses.
One by one, Oshiro’s amendments were knocked down.
Rep. Sharon Har (D, Kapolei-Makakilo) defended the repetitive amendments, arguing that they were attempts to fix legislation that has been rushed. "We are trying to make a bad bill better," she said.
Oshiro cloaked his "conscience exemption" proposals for individuals and small businesses as sincere attempts to balance equal rights with religious liberty, even though no state with gay-marriage laws has such an exemption.
Har said the bill is "frightening and emotional" for many because she claims it would not adequately protect religious freedom and would "regulate thought."
McDermott predicted that once gay marriage becomes law, "political correctness" would come crashing down on anyone who objects to homosexuality because of their religious beliefs. He said that gay-rights activists and others would attempt to "shame" people of faith as bigots by testing the boundaries of the law.
But the House rejected suggestions that a "conscience exemption" was necessary to protect religious freedom, which is already protected by the First Amendment and would be shielded by the broader religious exemption in the House version of the bill.
Lee said a "conscience exemption" would potentially allow a small-business owner to put up a sign in a shop window that said, "No gays allowed."
The expanded religious exemption in the House version has been embraced by Abercrombie, state Attorney General David Louie, the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii and other gay-rights advocates as an acceptable compromise necessary to get the bill passed. State senators have indicated that they will agree to the changes, although several will do so reluctantly.
William Hoshijo, executive director of the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission, on Thursday provided lawmakers with an analysis of the religious exemption that expressed concern about its scope.
Hoshijo wrote that the religious exemption would clearly apply to and shield churches that allow the use of facilities for weddings that produce income, such as Kawaiaha‘o Church, which provides wedding services to Japanese visitors and other couples. He wrote that it would also cover weddings and wedding rehearsal dinners and receptions at venues such as the Kroc Center Hawaii in Kapolei or Waioli Tea Room in Manoa, which is owned by The Salvation Army.
Hoshijo questioned whether churches that own large tracts of land that contain shopping centers or hotels could require tenants or management companies to discriminate against same-sex couples and deny requests for goods, services and facilities related to gay weddings.
The same argument, he wrote, could apply to religious nonprofits such as the YMCA or YWCA that might deny family-related services to gay couples that could be construed as a celebration of marriage.
Rep. Linda Ichiyama (D, Salt Lake-Moanalua Valley) said the bill reflects a compromise between the free exercise of religion and the protection of civil rights.
"We heard the testimony and listened to the request for more protection for religious freedom," she said.
