The Hawaii legislature passed a bill legalizing same-sex civil unions on Wednesday. According to CNN, the bill greatly expands the relationships rights of homosexual couples by granting them access to all of the state-level marital rights of opposite-sex couples (except, of course, the right to legally define their relationships as marriage).
Gov. Neil Abercrombie is expected to sign the bill next week. In a statement, Abercrombie said, “I have always believed that civil unions respect our diversity, protect people’s privacy and reinforce our core values of equality and aloha.”
The new law will take effect Jan. 1, 2012.
