nd estates,and powers of attorney. While California's Governor Wilson eventually vetoedthe bill, its passage by the legislature represented a notable politicalachievement for advocates of same-sex marriage. The most significant prospects for legalizing same-sex marriage in thenear future are in Hawaii, where advocates of same-sex marriage have won a majorjudicial victory that could lead to the judicial legalization of same-sexmarriage or to legislation authorizing same-sex domestic partnership in thatstate. In 1993, the Hawaii Supreme Court, in Baehr v. Lewin, vacated a statecircuit court judgment dismissing same-sex marriage claims and ruled thatHawaii's marriage law allowing heterosexual, but not homosexual, couples toobtain marriage licenses constitutes sex discrimination under the stateconstitution's Equal Protection Clause and Equal Rights Amendment. The case began in 1991 when three same-sex couples who had been deniedmarriage licenses by the Hawaii Department of Health brought suit in state courtagainst the director of the department. Hawaii law required couples wishing tomarry to obtain a marriage license. While the marriage license law did notexplicitly prohibit same-sex marriage at that time, it used terms of gender thatclearly indicated that only heterosexual couples could marry. The coupl soughta judicial decision that the Hawaii marriage license law is unconstitutional,as it prohibits same-sex marriage and allows state officials ro deny marriagelicenses to same-sex couples on account of the heterosexuality requirement.Baehr and her attorney sought their objectives entirely through state law, notonly by filing in state rather than federal court, but also by allegingexclusively violations of state law--the Hawaii Constitution. The state movedfor judgment on the pleadings and for dismissal of the complaint for failure tostate a claim; the state's motion was granted in October, 1991. Thus, thecircuit court upheld the heter...
