Hawaii High Court ends efforts at gay marriages

HONOLULU, Hawaii – The Hawaii Supreme Court has ended efforts to legalize gay marriage in the state, which once was expected to approve same-sex marriages.

The court ruled Dec. 9 that the attempts by homosexual couples were rendered moot by a 1998 state constitutional amendment approved overwhelming by voters. That amendment gave lawmakers authority to limit state – recognized marriages to opposite sex couples. The court considered an appeal of a lower court decision that the state could not justify its 1994 ban on same-sex unions. The judge in the case had ordered the state to grant marriage licenses to homosexual couples, then delayed the order pending the appeal. Lawmakers later drafted the amendment giving them the authority to approve the ban. In 1998, voters affirmed the proposal by a 2 to 1 margin.

“Thank you to the Hawaii Supreme Court for affirming what we’ve known all along- that marriage, by God’s definition, is between opposite-sex couples,” said Mike Gabbard, chairman of the Alliance for Traditional Marriage, the Associated Press reported.