HI: Civil Union Backers to Sue State for Rights

Gay-rights advocates are preparing a lawsuit alleging that the state is violating the equal protection rights of same-sex couples by not passing a civil-unions law. Lambda Legal and the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai'i yesterday said they would bring the lawsuit after the state House voted on Friday to indefinitely postpone action on civil unions this session.

The lawsuit will be based on a 1993 Hawai'i Supreme Court ruling which held that denying same-sex couples the ability to marry was a violation of their equal-protection rights under the state Constitution.

Voters approved a constitutional amendment in 1998 that gave the state Legislature the right to define marriage — and lawmakers have defined it as between a man and a woman — so gay-rights advocates are unable to claim a right to marry.

Full Story from the Honolulu Advertiser
Click here for gay marriage resources in Hawaii.
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