[2] In 1993, the Hawaii State Supreme Court ruled in Baehr v. Lewin, 852 P.2d 44 (Haw.

1993), that refusing to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples was discriminatory under that state's constitution.

After the trial court judge rejected the state's justifications for limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples in 1996 (but stayed his ruling to allow the state to appeal to the Supreme Court again), the Hawaii State Legislature passed a proposed constitutional amendment during the 1997 session that would overrule the Supreme Court's 1993 ruling and allow the Legislature to ban same-sex marriage.

[5] On November 3, 1998, Hawaii voters approved the amendment by a vote of 69.2–28.6%,[6] and the state legislature exercised its power to ban same-sex marriage.

[5] The language added by the amendment reads:[7] The legislature shall have the power to reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples.On October 14, 2013, Hawaii Attorney General David M. Louie stated in a formal legal opinion that Amendment 2 does not prevent the state legislature from legalizing same-sex marriage,[8] which it did in November 2013 with the Hawaii Marriage Equality Act.