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Thursday, July 27, 2006
Hawaii 'victory' prompted ban efforts
What appeared to be a victory for same-sex couples only made their battle harder in Washington state and around the country.
It happened a decade ago in Hawaii.
In 1993, the state's Supreme Court smoothed the way for a judge to make a historic ruling three years later: Same-sex couples in Hawaii should be allowed to marry.
Their celebration was short-lived. The backlash was sweeping.
Congress -- with many members concerned that same-sex couples would flock to the island state and then claim the rights and benefits of married couples back in their home states -- passed the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
Signed by President Clinton, it defined marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman.
The act left it up to states to decide whether gay couples could marry but said they could refuse to recognize the unions of such couples who'd tied the knot elsewhere.
Washington was one of many states that drafted a state Defense of Marriage Act to mirror the federal law, and it drew strong support.
Washington's Republican-controlled Legislature passed the law in 1997, but Gov. Gary Locke vetoed it. Lawmakers passed the measure again the next year and had enough votes to push the measure past Locke's veto pen.
Washington is one of 41 states that now have laws defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
Washington's courts also addressed the issue more than three decades ago, when the state Court of Appeals ruled in 1974 that same-sex couples could not legally get hitched. Back then, the Supreme Court declined to consider the case.
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