Homosexuality
    ✔ Legal
    Gay Marriage
    ✔ Legal
    Censorship
    ✔ No censorship
    Changing Gender
    Ambiguous
    Gender-Affirming Care
    ✔ Legal
    Non-Binary Gender Recognition
    ✔ Recognized
    Discrimination
    ✔ Illegal
    Employment Discrimination
    ✔ Sexual orientation and gender identity
    Housing Discrimination
    ✔ Sexual orientation and gender identity
    Adoption
    ✔ Legal
    Intersex Infant Surgery
    ✖ Not banned
    Military
    ✔ Legal
    Donating Blood
    ✔ Legal
    Conversion Therapy
    ✔ Banned
    Age of Consent
    ✔ Equal
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Recent surveys in Hawaii have revealed a mixed response towards LGBTQ+ rights and issues.

Hawaii Surveys

Support for same-sex marriage

(Civil Beat, 2013)
44%
Support
44%
Oppose

Support for same-sex marriage

(Civil Beat, 2012)
37%
Support
51%
Oppose

Support for different forms of same-sex legal recognition

Gay couples should be allowed to legally marry
Gay couples should be allowed to form civil unions but not marry
There should be no legal recognition of a gay couple's relationship

Have you lived in or visited Hawaii?

Share your experience of being LGBTQ+ in Hawaii.

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History

Homosexual activity in Hawaii

?

Homosexual activity in Hawaii is legal.

Current status
Since Jan 1, 1973
Legal
Legislative repeal, effective 1973.
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Same-sex marriage in Hawaii

?

Same-sex marriage in Hawaii is legal.

Current status
Since Dec 2, 2013
Legal
Gay couples tie the knot in Hawaii as same-sex marriage law kicks in
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Jan 1, 2012–Dec 2, 2013
Civil unions (marriage rights)
Governor Linda Lingle vetoed a civil union law in 2010. Governor Neil Abercrombie signed the same legislation on February 23, 2011, the first law he signed as governor. The law went into effect on January 1, 2012.
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1997–Jan 1, 2012
Other type of partnership
In 1997, the state established reciprocal beneficiary relationships, open to all couples as well as blood relatives, offering numerous spousal rights including the ability to sue for wrongful death, decisions about health care, proptery rights and co-tenancy, inheritance without a will, and insurance and state pensions.
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Censorship of LGBT issues in Hawaii

?

Censorship of LGBT issues in Hawaii is no censorship.

Current status
No censorship
No censorship of lgbt in hawaii.
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Right to change legal gender in Hawaii

?

Right to change legal gender in Hawaii is ambiguous.

Current status
Since Jul 1, 2015
Ambiguous
Hawaii as of July 2015 started amending birth certificates with a licensed physician's approval, 5 years later Hawaii approved HB1165 to amend driver's licenses without proof of medical documentation. The birth certificate statue has not been amended since it's approval.
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Gender-affirming care in Hawaii

?

Gender-affirming care in Hawaii is legal.

Current status
Since Jun 16, 2022
Legal
The Health Department of Hawaii has issued a directory for gender affirming care for adults and families. House Bill 2405 offers gender affirming care under insurance. Adults and Minors are able to get gender affirming care under insurance. There are no other bills in Hawaii that specifically are for Gender Affirming Care.

Legal recognition of non-binary gender in Hawaii

?

Legal recognition of non-binary gender in Hawaii is recognized.

Current status
Since Jul 1, 2020
Recognized
Hawaii residents can self-identify as non-binary on official forms and ask for an X gender marker on state IDs.
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LGBT discrimination in Hawaii

?

LGBT discrimination in Hawaii is illegal.

Current status
Illegal
People are protected from discrimination based upon both sexual orientation and gender identification.
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LGBT employment discrimination in Hawaii

?

LGBT employment discrimination in Hawaii is sexual orientation and gender identity.

Current status
Since 2011
Sexual orientation and gender identity
Legal protections from discrimination based upon sexual orientation and gender identification exist.
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LGBT housing discrimination in Hawaii

?

LGBT housing discrimination in Hawaii is sexual orientation and gender identity.

Current status
Sexual orientation and gender identity
This state explicitly bans housing discrimination based upon sexual orientation and gender identification.

Additionally, the Human Rights Campaign states, "The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires grantees and participants of HUD programs to comply with local and state non-discrimination laws that include sexual orientation and gender identity.
HUD also prohibits inquiries regarding the sexual orientation or gender identity of a prospective tenant or applicant for assisted
housing in every state (March 2012)."
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Same-sex adoption in Hawaii

?

Same-sex adoption in Hawaii is legal.

Current status
Since Oct 19, 2017
Legal
Hawaii allows all couples, including same-sex couples, to adopt.
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Jul 24, 2016–Oct 19, 2017
Legal
Under the LGBT Adoption Laws Hawaii
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Until Jul 24, 2016
Ambiguous
Any adult may petition, and married and civil union-ed couples must petition jointly per Revised Statute §578-1.

The status is ambiguous because second-parent adoption for same-sex couples varies by judge and county, and no decision by the lower court has been approved by case law in appellate court, nor by state statute.
Sources:
www.lambdalegal.org/states-region/hawaii
Hawaii Rev. Stat. §578-1
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Intersex infant surgery in Hawaii

?

Intersex infant surgery in Hawaii is not banned.

Current status
Not banned
No US state has enacted a ban on surgeries that attempt to change an intersex minors sex without their consent.
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Serving openly in military in Hawaii

?

Serving openly in military in Hawaii is legal.

Current status
Since Jan 25, 2020
Legal
President Biden removed former President Trumps ban on transgender people serving in the military, transgender people are still allowed to serve as of 2024.
Jul 26, 2017–Jan 25, 2020
Lesbians, gays, bisexuals permitted, transgender people banned
Former President Trump said in a slew of tweets in 2017, that he would ban transgender people from serving in the military. He then talked with the Chiefs of Staff, making it full ban for transgender people. Policy stated, if transgender people were in the military already, they could serve under a gender dysphoria diagnoses.
Sources:
aclu.org/news/lgbtq-rights/…
americanoversight.org/docum…
documentcloud.org/documents… *Documents of the emails that the service members asking about the ban, then confirming it with the WH*
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Sep 20, 2011–Jul 26, 2017
Legal
In 2011, Don't Ask Don't Tell was repelled under the Obama Administration 6 years later a new executive order was introduced. Former President Obama allowed members dishonorably discharged under DADT, to receive a honorable discharge.
Jul 19, 1993–Sep 20, 2011
Don't Ask, Don't Tell
Former President Bill Clinton signed Don't Ask Don't Tell in 1993, removing the ability for LGBTQ people to serve. Some members were dishonorably discharged due to it.
Sources:
catalog.archives.gov/id/122244870 *official document for DADT signed by Former President Clinton*
gao.gov/assets/nsiad-92-98.pdf *study from 1992 to 1998*
history.com/news/dont-ask-d…
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Blood donations by MSMs in Hawaii

?

Blood donations by MSMs in Hawaii is legal.

Current status
Since May 11, 2023
Legal
The new FDA policy on blood donation eliminates deferrals and screening questions specific to men who have sex with men (MSM). Prospective donors will be asked the same set of questions regardless of their sex or sexual orientation.
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Apr 2, 2020–May 11, 2023
Banned (less than 6-month deferral)
Blood donation centers follow the non-binding FDA 3-month deferral guidance.
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Dec 21, 2015–Apr 2, 2020
Banned (1-year deferral)
Blood donation centers followed the non-binding FDA one year deferral guidance.
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1983–Dec 21, 2015
Banned (indefinite deferral)
Ban on blood donations from MSMs applies to any man who has had sex, even once, with another man on or after January 1, 1977.
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Conversion therapy in Hawaii

?

Conversion therapy in Hawaii is banned.

Current status
Since Sep 7, 2016
Banned
Bill outlawing conversion therapy on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity just got signed by the governor.
Until Sep 7, 2016
Ambiguous
Conversion Therapy is currently legal. No law currently bans it, despite organizations such as the American Psychological Association denouncing it. Though it's not actually ambiguous (It is in fact legal), this is the best indicator of the available options.

Equal age of consent in Hawaii

?

Equal age of consent in Hawaii is equal.

Current status
Equal
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