On the 23rd of February, Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie signed a bill into law that offers LGB people close to the same benefits and responsibilities to those who are legally married.
“This signing today of this measure says to all of the world that they are welcome. That everyone is a brother or sister here in paradise,” Abercrombie said. “The legalization of civil unions in Hawaii represent in my mind equal rights for all people,” he added.
Hawaii is now the seventh state in the United States to recognize civil unions. “Today marks a big step toward full equality for lesbian and gay people in the Aloha state,” said Jennifer Pizer, national marriage project director for the gay rights group Lambda Legal.