How did the Supreme Court of Hawaii case in 1993 bring national attention to same-sex marriage?

The 1993 Supreme Court of Hawaii ruling in the case regarding same-sex marriage served as the catalyst for the modern national debate on the issue. The court ruled that the state could not deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples without a "compelling reason," a decision that brought the topic to the forefront of American politics.12

This ruling sparked significant national concern over the potential for "interstate recognition," where other states might be legally compelled to recognize same-sex marriages performed in Hawaii. In response to this perceived threat, the U.S. Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 1996, which defined marriage at the federal level as a union between one man and one woman and allowed states to refuse recognition of same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions. Over the following decade, this national attention prompted approximately 40 states to enact their own constitutional or statutory bans on same-sex marriage to prevent similar legal challenges.31