ate's motion was granted in October, 1991. Thus, the circuit court upheld the heterosexuality marriage requirement as a matter of law and dismissed the plaintiffs' challenges to it. Yet recently the Circuit Court of Hawaii decided that Hawaii had violated Baehr and her partner's constitutional rights by the fourteenth amendment and that they could be recognized as a marriage. The court found that the state of Hawaii's constitution expressly discriminated against homosexuals and that because of Hawaii's anti-discrimination law they must re evaluate the situation. After the ruling the state immediately asked for a stay of judgment, until the appeal had been convened, therefore putting off any marriage between Baehr and her partner for at least a year. By far Baehr is the most positive step toward actual marriage rights for gay and lesbian people. Currently there is a high tolerance for homosexuals throughout the United States and currently in Hawaii. Judges do not need the popularity of the people on the Federal or circuit court level to make new precedent. There is no clear majority that homosexuals should have marriage rights in the general public, and yet the courts voted for Baehr. The judiciary has its own mind on how to interpret the constitution which is obviously very different then most of American popular belief. This is the principal reason that these judges are not elected by the people, so they do not have to bow to people pressure. The constitutional rights argument for same-sex marriage affirms that there is a fundamental constitutional right to marry, or a broader right of privacy or of intimate association. The essence of this right is the private, intimate association of consenting adults who want to share their lives and commitment with each other and that same-sex couples have just as much intimacy and need for marital privacy as heterosexual couples; and that laws allowing heterosexual, but not same-sex,...
