The Governor intends to sign the bill within 10 days
HONOLULU - Hawaii lawmakers today sent the governor a bill that would allow civil unions for same-sex couples.
Office of Gov. Neil Abercrombie Democrat, said he had the intent to sign the bill within 10 days. Civil unions begin January 1, 2012.
The Hawaii Senate voted 18-5 Wednesday to give final approval of the legislative bill after years of demonstrations, thousands strong, electoral battles and impassioned public testimony on an issue that has divided the State of the rainbow for nearly two decades. The measure passed the House on Friday.
"I've always thought that civil unions respect for our diversity, protecting the privacy of individuals, and reinforce our values of equality and aloha," Abercrombie said in a statement issued minutes after Wednesday's vote. "For me, this bill represents equal rights for all people of Hawaii."
The measure grants gay and lesbian couples the same rights and benefits the state provides to married couples.
Hawaii became the seventh state to give essentially the same marriage rights to same-sex couples without authorizing the marriage itself.
Five states and the District of Columbia allow marriage between same sex.
The vote anxiously awaited civil unions took place immediately after the Senate confirmed the status of the first openly gay Supreme Court Judge Sabrina McKenna.
Gay rights advocates hailed the vote as a victory for equal rights in a state known for its diversity and tolerance.
Opponents of the measure, many of them Christians, said that civil unions undermine the traditional family concept and could lead to marriage between persons of the same sex.
The Hawaii Legislature also passed a similar law civil unions last year, but was vetoed by then-Gov. Linda Lingle, a Republican. Was limited time to stand for election again in November.
Abercrombie said Wednesday the Legislature's approval marked the end of an "emotional process" for the state, which has been a battleground in the gay rights movement since a 1993 decision the state Supreme Court legalized almost gay marriage.
The decision would have made Hawaii the first state to allow same-sex couples to marry, but had no effect, while voters were given the opportunity to decide.
They said five years after overwhelmingly passing the nation's first "defense of marriage" constitutional amendment, approved by 69 percent of voters gave the Legislature the power to reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples.
The amendment was the result of a law banning gay marriage in Hawaii, but left the door open to civil unions.
Since then, 29 other states have also passed the defense of marriage amendments.
