atute and in society; and marital failure itself, may be grounds for a divorce (Stoddard 33). Societal changes have been felt in marriages over the past 25 years as divorce rates have increased, integrating into even those families of the upper-class. Proposals to legalize same-sex marriages or to enact broad domestic partnership laws are currently being promoted by gay and lesbian activists, especially in North America (Boston Globe 15A). III. The Fight to LegalizeIn the United States, efforts to legalize same-sex domestic partnerships have had limited success. The Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. reported that by mid-1995, thirty-six municipalities, eight counties, three states, five state agencies, and two federal agencies extended some benefits to, or registered [for official purposes], same-sex domestic partnerships (Gibson 132). In 1994, the California legislature passed a domestic partnership bill that provided official state registration of same-sex couples and provided limited marital rights and privileges relating to hospital visitation, wills and estates, and powers of attorney (169). While California's Governor Wilson eventually vetoed the bill, its passage by the legislature represented a notable political achievement for advocates of same-sex marriage. The most significant prospects for legalizing same-sex marriage in the near future are in Hawaii, where advocates of same-sex marriages have won a major judicial victory that could lead to the judicial legalization of same-sex marriage, or to legislation authorizing same-sex domestic partnership in that state. In 1993, in the case of Baehr v. Lewin, the Supreme Court of Hawaii vacated a state circuit-court judgement dismissing same-sex marriage claims and ruled that Hawaii's marriage law allowing heterosexual, but not homosexual, couples to obtain marriage licenses constituted gender discrimination under the state constitution's Equal Protection Clause an...
