December 18, 2013
Hawaii Same-Sex Marriage Pioneer Weds Partner
Jason St. Amand READ TIME: 1 MIN.
One of the Hawaii women who sparked the national same-sex marriage battle with a lawsuit more than 20 years ago is now legally married to another woman.
Genora Dancel has wed Kathryn Dennis, her partner of 15 years.
They were married Tuesday in a court ceremony that comes 23 years after Dancel, her partner at the time and two other gay couples were denied marriage licenses, leading to a 1993 Hawaii Supreme Court decision saying their equal protection rights were being violated.
Hawaii is now among 16 states and Washington, D.C., where same-sex marriage is legal.
Dancel says the clerk who denied her license in 1990 was the same one who approved it this time.
She tells Hawaii News Now (http://ow.ly/rToPk ) being married outweighs the bad feelings from her struggle.
