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There is an important proposed amendment to our state Constitution this year. Our state Constitution still contains language allowing the Legislature to prohibit same-sex marriage.
In 2013, the Legislature passed a law legalizing same-sex marriage. Two years later, in Obergefell v. Hodges, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.
We all know people who are happily married to same-sex partners. Question No. 1 on the ballot asks, “Shall the state constitution be amended to repeal the legislature’s authority to reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples?” Any voter who does not answer “yes” to this question effectively votes to retain this language, because every ballot that leaves this question unanswered will be counted as a “no” vote. Please vote “yes” on this question.
Diana Van De Car
Volcano, Hawaii island
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