Jewish Judge Officiates At Same-Sex Wedding Of 91-Year-Old Hawaiian Princess
Image by Twitter
A Jewish judge officiated at a Hawaiian princess’s lesbian wedding, as heiress Abigail Kawananakoa finally wed her life-long partner Veronica Gail Worth.
Kawananakoa, 91, was deliberate about her choice of officiant – Stephen Levinson, the judge in question, authored a landmark opinion when he was an associate justice on the Hawaii Supreme Court.
Back in 1993, he ruled that it violated the state constitution for the state not to allow same-sex couples to marry without showing a compelling state interest for the prohibition. His ruling was overturned by a constitutional amendment, but it was one of the most important legal victories in the early history of the gay rights movement.
Kawananakoa is the descendant of Prince David Kawananakoa, who was once heir to the Kingdom of Hawaii – an autonomous kingdom before it was absorbed into the United States. She is also the great-granddaughter of one of the archipelago’s largest landholders – with her own fortune estimated at $215 million.
Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
