AG: Hawaii Will No Longer Defend ‘Old Law’ Defining Marriage

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Hawaii Attorney General David Louie says that the state will no longer defend the “old law” that defined marriage as only between a man and a woman.   

“Last year, Hawaii changed the law to ensure marriage equality for same-sex couples,” Louie said in a press release Monday. “Its passage has turned the page in history on the issue of discrimination. There are no longer grounds to defend the previous law.”   

As a result, the state will stop defending the case of Jackson v. Abercrombie in federal court. The 2011 case from a same-sex couple sought to declare Hawaii’s old marriage law unconstitutional .

“I support the decision of the Attorney General in this matter,” said Gov. Neil Abercrombie.   

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Photo: Six same-sex couples in Honolulu minutes before they married in December 2013. (PF Bentley/Civil Beat)

—Chad Blair

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