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.
Background In 1993, the Hawaii State Supreme Court ruled in Baehr v. Lewin, , 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.
Content The question that appeared on the ballot for voters was:
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. On November 3, 1998, Hawaii voters approved the amendment by a vote of 69.2–28.6%, and the state legislature exercised its power to ban same-sex marriage.
The language added by the amendment reads:
Later developments 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, which it did in November 2013 with the Hawaii Marriage Equality Act.
On November 5, 2024, Hawaii held a referendum to remove the amendment from the state constitution. The measure passed by a vote of 55.9%-44.1%
Results
By county County Yes No Margin Total votes # % # % # %Hawaii36,08667.3%16,01529.8%20,07137.5%52,101Honolulu201,85169.3%83,44528.7%118,40640.6%285,296Kauaʻi17,78273.0%5,94824.4%11,83448.6%23,730Maui29,66568.4%12,41928.6%17,24639.8%42,084Totals285,38470.8%117,82729.2%167,55741.6%403,211
References
See also LGBT rights in Hawaii Same-sex marriage in Hawaii