Hawaii legalizes gay marriage

Supporters of same-sex marriage celebrate after the Hawaii State Senate approved a bill allowing same-sex marriage to be legal in the state of Hawaii, in Honolulu November 12, 2013. [Photo/Agencies]

HONOLULU - The Hawaii Senate gave final legislative approval on Tuesday to a bill extending marriage rights to same-sex couples in a state long popular as a wedding and honeymoon destination and regarded as a pioneer in advancing the cause of gay matrimony.

The measure cleared the Democratic-controlled state Senate on a 19-4 vote to cheers and applause from hundreds of supporters in flowered garland leis who filled the chamber's visitor galleries and the Capitol rotunda.

Governor Neil Abercrombie, a Democrat who called a special session to consider the bill, is expected to sign it into law on Wednesday morning, an aide to the governor said. That would make Hawaii the 15th US state to legalize gay marriage.

The measure, set to take effect on December 2, rolls back a 1994 statute defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

President Barack Obama, who was born in Hawaii, hailed passage of the bill in a statement released by the White House.

"Whenever freedom and equality are affirmed, our country becomes stronger," said Obama, the first US president to support gay marriage. "By giving loving gay and lesbian couples the right to marry if they choose, Hawaii exemplifies the values we hold dear as a nation."

Amended in the state House of Representatives last week to strengthen exemptions for clergy and religious groups, the measure easily cleared the Senate with the body's lone Republican joining three Democrats in opposing it. Two other Democrats were absent.

The path to legal gay marriage in Hawaii has been long and bumpy. The state's Supreme Court ruled two decades ago that barring same-sex nuptials was discriminatory in a landmark opinion that propelled the gay rights movement nationwide.

That ruling also sparked a backlash that has until now kept marriage limited to heterosexual couples in Hawaii.

The reversal by Hawaii lawmakers comes at a time of increasing momentum for gay marriage in the courts, at the ballot box and in statehouses across the United States.

The trend has gained steam since the US Supreme Court ruled in June that married same-sex couples are eligible for federal benefits, striking down a key part of the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act. In a separate ruling the same day, the high court paved the way for lifting a ban on gay marriage in California.

The justices stopped short in both 5-4 decisions of declaring a nationwide right to same-sex marriage. Proponents and opponents of gay marriage have vowed to continue their battle state by state.