1. Law regarding same-sex sexual activity

2. Recognition of same-sex unions
    Same-sex marriage legislation  History prior to same-sex marriage 

3. Adoption and parenting

4. Discrimination protections

5. Hate crime law

6. Gender identity and expression

7. Conversion therapy

8. Public opinion and demographics

9. Summary of LGBT rights

10. See also

11. References

Same-sex relationships have been part of Hawaiian culture for centuries. The term aikāne refers to homosexual or bisexual relationships, which were widely accepted in pre-colonial Hawaiian society, and the term māhū refers to a third gender alongside male and female. The Christian missionaries, who arrived in the 19th century, were adept in converting the local population to Christianity. As a result, the first ever anti-gay law was enacted in 1850, prohibiting sodomy with 20 years hard labor. During the 1960s and onwards, LGBT rights entered into the public eye, which was followed by multiple pro-LGBT rights reforms, including the repeal of the sodomy law.

In modern times, Hawaii is notable for its LGBT-friendliness, with several establishments, accommodations, and festivals catering especially for gay tourists and couples.^[2] Recent opinion polls have found that same-sex marriage enjoys very high levels of support.^[3]

Law regarding same-sex sexual activity

Hawaii repealed its sodomy law in April 1972,^[4] and revised its sex offences laws in 1986 following a Supreme Court ruling which defended a Georgia ban on sodomy.^[5] The original sodomy law repeal was effective from the beginning of 1973.^[6]

Recognition of same-sex unions

Same-sex marriage legislation

On September 9, 2013, Governor Neil Abercrombie announced that he was calling the Hawaii State Legislature into special session on October 28 to consider a same-sex marriage bill.^[7] The bill had wide support in the Senate as well as the required majority in the House.^[8] If approved, the bill would take effect on November 18.^[9]

On October 28, the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Labor passed the same-sex marriage legislation in a 5-2 vote, sending the bill to a full Senate vote.^[10] On October 30, the Senate approved the legislation in a 20-4 vote, sending the bill to the House.^[11] On October 31, the bill was debated by both the House Committee on Judiciary and the House Committee on Finance. The House, following extensive public debate and an attempted "citizens' filibuster" of the legislation,^[12] voted 30–19 on November 8 in favour of the legislation.^[13][14] The bill returned to the Senate for approval of House amendments which expanded religious exemptions, and the Senate provided final legislative approval on November 12, voting 19–4 for passage to the desk of the Governor.^[15] Governor Neil Abercrombie signed the bill into law on 13 November; same-sex couples began marrying on December 2, 2013.^[16]

History prior to same-sex marriage

Hawaii's denial of marriage licenses to same-sex marriage couples was challenged in court in 1993. In 1994, the state enacted a statute banning same-sex marriage.^[17] In November 1998, the voters of Hawaii voted 69 percent in favor of Hawaii Constitutional Amendment 2, which amended the State Constitution to allow the Legislature to ban same-sex marriage.^[18] The constitutional amendment led the Hawaii Supreme Court to dismiss the lawsuit.^[17]

Hawaii established reciprocal beneficiary relationships, a limited form of civil unions, for both same-sex and opposite-sex couples in 1997. Numerous legislative attempts to enact fuller civil unions equivalent with other jurisdictions' civil unions and domestic partnerships failed.

Governor Linda Lingle vetoed a civil union law in 2010.^[19] Governor Neil Abercrombie signed the same legislation on February 23, 2011, the first law he signed as governor. The law went into effect on January 1, 2012.^[20]

Hawaii has provided benefits to same-sex partners of state employees since 1997.^[21]

Adoption and parenting

Hawaii allows all couples, including same-sex couples to adopt. Additionally, lesbian couples can get access to IVF and artificial insemination treatment and surrogacies are allowed for gay male couples as well.^[22]

Discrimination protections

Hawaii law explicitly prohibits discrimination based on both sexual orientation and gender identity or expression in employment, public accommodations and housing.^[23]

The discrimination protections for sexual orientation in employment were added in 1991. In 2005, protections were extended to housing and in 2006 to public accommodations, both for sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. In 2011, gender identity or expression protections were extended to employment.^[24]

Moreover, the state's anti-bullying law prohibits bullying on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, gender identity and expression, religion, physical and mental disability, sexual orientation, physical appearance and characteristic and socio-economic status. The law also explicitly includes cyberbullying and harassment, and applies to all public elementary schools and secondary school premises.^[25]

In July 2018, the Hawaii Legislature passed a bill, which was then signed into law by the Governor of Hawaii, to further protect all students under the explicit "Title IX clause", meaning that Hawaii now has some of the strongest legal protections for LGBT students in the United States. The law went into effect on January 1, 2019.^[26][27]

Hate crime law

Hawaii has a law that addresses hate crime protection for both actual and/or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.

According to the statute:

• Sexual orientation is defined as heterosexuality, homosexuality or bisexuality and those "having a history of any one or more of these preferences or being identified with any one or more of these preferences."^[28]
• Gender identity or expression "includes a person's actual or perceived gender, as well as a person's gender identity, gender-related self image, gender-related appearance, or gender-related expression; regardless of whether that gender identity, gender-related self image, gender-related appearance, or gender-related expression is different from that traditionally associated with the person's sex at birth."^[29]

Gender identity and expression

Previously, Hawaii's Department of Health issued a new birth certificate to a post-operative transsexual only upon receipt of a physician's affidavit verifying that the registrant had undergone sex reassignment surgery.^[30] On May 5, 2015, the Hawaii Legislature passed a bill to allow transgender people to change their gender on their birth certificates without undergoing such surgery. Hawaii Governor David Ige signed the bill into law on July 14, 2015, and the legislation went into effect immediately.^[31][32][33]

Since July 1, 2016, Hawaii has also banned discrimination against gender identity or expression within insurance contracts.^[34] This also must include sex reassignment surgery.^[35]

Conversion therapy

Since 2013, several bills had been introduced in Hawaii to legally ban conversion therapy on minors, but the bills went nowhere or lapsed for years.

In April 2018, both the Hawaii House of Representatives and the Hawaii Senate passed a bill that legally bans conversion therapy on minors. Due to different versions, the House and the Senate convened in a conference committee.

In May 2018, the conference committee passed one version of the bill into a single concise format that was unanimously agreed to and the bill was subsequently signed into law by Governor David Ige. The law went into effect on July 1, 2018.^[36][37]

Public opinion and demographics

A 2013 Williams Institute survey showed that 5.1% of the Hawaii adult population identified as LGBT. This was the highest in the United States, behind only the District of Columbia (10%).^[38]

A 2017 Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) opinion poll found that 68% of Hawaii residents supported same-sex marriage, while 20% opposed it and 12% were unsure.^[3] The same poll also found that 74% of Hawaiians supported an anti-discrimination law covering sexual orientation and gender identity, while 13% were opposed.^[39] Furthermore, 54% were against allowing businesses to refuse to serve gay and lesbian people due to religious beliefs, while 35% supported allowing such religiously-based refusals.^[40]

Summary of LGBT rights

See also

• LGBT history in Hawaii
• LGBT rights in the United States
• LGBT rights in Oceania
• Same-sex marriage in Hawaii

References

• Common grape hyacinth
• Common Grass Anole
• Common Graves
• Common Gray Fox
• Common Greek
• Common greek
• Common Greenbrier
• Common Green Darner
• Common green frog
• Common Green Planthopper
• Common grey mullet
• Common Gromwell
• Common gromwell
• Common ground
• Common Ground
• Common Ground (2000 film)
• Common Ground (book)
• Common Ground clinic
• Common Ground Collective
• Common ground (disambiguation)
• Common Ground-Dove
• Common Ground Health Clinic
• Common Ground Health Collective
• Common Ground (Leama & Moor album)
• Common Grounds (disambiguation)