d Equal Rights Amendment (New York Times 55). The case began in 1991 when three same-sex couples who had been denied marriage licenses by the Hawaii Department of Health brought suit in state court against the director of the department. Hawaii law required couples wishing to marry to obtain a marriage license (Los Angeles Times 1A). While the marriage license law did not explicitly prohibit same-sex marriage at that time, it used terms of gender that clearly indicated that only heterosexual couples could marry. The couples sought a judicial decision that would rule the law out as unconstitutional, as it prohibits same-sex marriage and allows state officials to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples on account of the “heterosexuality requirement”. Baehr and her attorney sought their objectives entirely through state law, not only by filing in state rather than federal court, but also by alleging [exclusively] violations of state law- the state Constitution of Hawaii. The state moved for judgment on the pleas and for dismissal of the complaint for failure to state a claim; the state'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 (Harvard Law Review 79).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 married. 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 (The Wall Street Journal 67). By far, Baehr is the most p...
