1998 Hawaii Amendment 2

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.[1]

Elections in Hawaii
Federal government Presidential elections 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 Presidential primaries Democratic 2004 2008 2016 2020 Republican 2008 2012 2016 2024 U.S. Senate elections 1959 1962 1964 1968 1970 1974 1976 1980 1982 1986 1988 1990 1990 sp 1992 1994 1998 2000 2004 2006 2010 2012 2014 sp 2016 2018 2022 2024 2028 U.S. House of Representatives elections 1959 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1st sp 1988 1990 2nd sp 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2nd sp 2003 (2nd sp) 2004 2006 2008 2010 1st sp 2012 2014 2016 1st sp 2018 2020 2022 2024
State government Gubernatorial elections 1959 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026 Senate elections 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 House of Representatives elections 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022
Ballot measures 1998 Amendment 2
Honolulu Mayoral elections 2010 sp 2012 2016 2020

Measure 2

November 3, 1998
Hawaii Marriage Amendment
Results
Choice Votes  % Yes 285,384 70.78% No 117,827 29.22% Valid votes 403,211 97.74% Invalid or blank votes 9,309 2.26% Total votes 412,520 100.00% Registered voters/turnout 601,404 68.59%

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.[2]

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender rights in Hawaii

Baehr v. Lewin (1993) Baehr v. Miike (1996, 1999) Constitutional Amendment 2 (1998) House Bill 444 (2009) Senate Bill 232 (2011) Hawaii Marriage Equality Act (2013)
Equality Hawaii
LGBT rights in the United States Same-sex marriage in Hawaii Reciprocal beneficiary relationships in Hawaii LGBT history in Hawaii
LGBT Portal

The question that appeared on the ballot for voters was:[3]

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.[4] On November 3, 1998, Hawaii voters approved the amendment by a vote of 69.2–28.6%,[5] and the state legislature exercised its power to ban same-sex marriage.[4]

The language added by the amendment reads:[6]

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,[7] which it did in November 2013 with the Hawaii Marriage Equality Act.