Constitutional Amendment 2 of 1998 amended the Constitution of Hawaii, granting the state legislature the power to prevent same-sex marriage from being conducted or recognized in Hawaii. Amendment 2 was the first constitutional amendment adopted in the United States that specifically targeted same-sex partnerships.[2]
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In 1993, the Hawaii State Supreme Court ruled in Baehr v. Lewin, 852 P.2d 44 (Haw. 1993), that refusing to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples was discriminatory under that state's constitution. However, the court did not immediately order the state to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples; rather, it remanded the case to the trial court and ordered the state to justify its position. After the trial court judge rejected the state's justifications for limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples in 1996 (but stayed his ruling to allow the state to appeal to the Supreme Court again), the Hawaii State Legislature passed a proposed constitutional amendment during the 1997 session that would overrule the Supreme Court's 1993 ruling and allow the Legislature to ban same-sex marriage. This constitutional amendment appeared on the 1998 general election ballot as Constitutional Amendment 2.[3]
The question that appeared on the ballot for voters was:[4]
Shall the Constitution of the state of Hawaii be amended to specify that the Legislature shall have the power to reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples?
Amendment 2 differed from amendments that followed in other states in that it did not write a ban on same-sex marriage into the state's constitution; rather, it allowed the state legislature to enact such a ban.[5] On November 3, 1998, Hawaii voters approved the amendment by a vote of 69.2–28.6%,[6] and the state legislature exercised its power to ban same-sex marriage.[5]
The language added by the amendment reads:[7]
The legislature shall have the power to reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples.
— Article I, section 23, The Constitution of the State of Hawaii
On October 14, 2013, Hawaii Attorney General David M. Louie stated in a formal legal opinion that Amendment 2 does not prevent the state legislature from legalizing same-sex marriage,[8] which it did in November 2013 with the Hawaii Marriage Equality Act.
On November 5, 2024, Hawaii will hold a referendum to remove the amendment from the state constitution.[9]
Results of vote
| Choice | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
 Yes | 285,384 | 69.2 |
| No | 117,827 | 28.6 |
| Valid votes | 403,211 | 97.8 |
| Invalid or blank votes | 9,309 | 2.2 |
| Total votes | 412,520 | 100.00 |
| Registered voters/turnout | 601,404 | 68.6 |
Source: Hawaii Office of Elections (November 4, 1998). "1998 General Election Statewide Summary Report". Archived from the original on June 2, 2006. Retrieved April 29, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) | ||