PRESERVATION OF MARRIAGE
JOINT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court has defined the family as
“consisting in and springing from the union for life of one man and one woman in the
holy estate of matrimony; the sure foundation of all that is stable and noble in our
civilization; the best guaranty of that reverent morality which is the source of all
beneficent progress in social and political improvement,” Murphy v. Ramsey, 114 U.S. 15,
45 (1885), quoted in United States v. Bitty, 208 U.S. 393, 401 (1908); and
WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court described marriage as “an
institution, in the maintenance of which in its purity the public is deeply interested, for it
is the foundation of the family and of society, without which there would be neither
civilization nor progress,” Maynard v. Hill, 125 U.S. 190, 211 (1888); and
WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court in 1977 stated that “the basic
foundation of the family in our society [is] the marriage relationship,” Smith v. Org. of
Foster Families For Equal. & Reform, 431 U.S. 816, 843 (1977); and
WHEREAS, the people of the State of Hawaii, by popular vote, passed
Amendment 2 (1998), an act empowering the legislature of the State of Hawaii to
protect the traditional definition of marriage. Therefore, the Constitution of the
State of Hawaii recognizes that, “The legislature shall have the power to reserve
marriage to opposite-sex couples,” H.I. Const. art. I, § 23; and
WHEREAS, Hawaii’s statutory code provides that marriage, “shall be only
between a man and a woman,” Haw. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 572–1 (West 2012)
(disagreed with by Hawaii Laws 2nd Sp. Sess. Act 1 (S.B. 1 2013)); and
WHEREAS, the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii found
that it, “agrees with the vast majority of courts considering the issue that an
opposite-sex definition of marriage does not constitute gender
discrimination…[and Hawaii’s Section 572–1] is gender-neutral on its face,”
Jackson v. Abercrombie, 884 F.Supp.2d 1065, 1070 (D. Haw. 2012), therefore, the
United States District Court for the District of Hawaii concluded that neither
Article I, Section 23 of Hawaii’s Constitution nor Hawaii’s Revised Statutes § 572–
1 violate the Constitution of the United States, See Jackson v. Abercrombie, 884
F.Supp.2d 1065, 1070 (D. Haw. 2012); and
WHEREAS, the Supreme Court of Hawaii has noted that, “Marriage and
procreation are fundamental to the very existence and survival of the race,” Baehr
v. Lewin, 852 P.2d 44, 56 (Haw. 1993) (agreeing with the U.S. Supreme Court in
Skinner v. Oklahoma ex rel. Williamson, 316 U.S. 535, 541 (1942), and joining the
importance of procreation directly with marriage); and
WHEREAS, the Supreme Court of Hawaii concluded that, "the language
linking marriage and procreation in Skinner along with the fact that marriage was
undeniably viewed as an institution between members of the opposite-sex in 1942
suggests that the Supreme Court of Hawaii, “was obviously contemplating unions
between men and women when it ruled that the right to marry was fundamental,”
Baehr v. Lewin, 852 P.2d 44, 56 (Haw. 1993); and
WHEREAS, in 2013 the United States Supreme Court officially severed its
respect for marriage by declaring unconstitutional the Defense of Marriage Act
(DOMA) which defined marriage for federal purposes as existing between one
man and one woman, United States v. Windsor, 133 S. Ct. 2675 (2013),
NOW THEREFORE, the Legislature of the State of Hawaii hereby submits
the following Joint Resolution to the United States Congress entitled Marriage
Preservation Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Application to the United States Congress
to call a Convention for proposing an amendment
to the United States Constitution.
Pursuant to Article V of the United States Constitution, the Legislature of the State of
Hawaii by a joint resolution of the Senate and House of Representatives hereby makes
application to the United States Congress to call a Convention for proposing the following
amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
Marriage Preservation Amendment to the United States Constitution
Nothing in this Constitution or in the constitution or laws of any state shall define
or shall be construed to define marriage except as the union of one man and one woman,
and no other union shall be recognized with the legal incidents thereof within the United
States or any place subject to their jurisdiction.