Justice Steven Levinson had no idea on his first day on Hawaii’s Supreme Court in April of 1992 that he was about to change the history of the world.

In the early 1990s, Hawaii’s Supreme Court was in transition with numerous vacancies occurring or on the horizon. Already a circuit court judge with Hawaii’s State Judiciary and a respected name in Honolulu’s legal community, Levinson was a natural choice, and then-Gov. John Waihee nominated him in 1992.

During the Senate Executive Appointments Committee hearing, Levinson remembers then-Sen. Ann Kobayashi asking a long list of questions, one of which was his opinion regarding equal protection as it applied to gay and lesbian people.

“That question never had occurred to me,” Levinson admits. “I never had a reason to consider the issue. I didn’t know why the question was being asked. I thought for a couple of seconds and responded that ‘I believe in equal protection for everyone, including gay and lesbian people.'”

Although at the time the question perplexed Levinson, it was a powerful indication of things to come. Four months later, the words Baehr v Lewin appeared on the court’s calendar for oral arguments. The “gay marriage” battle was about to begin.

The Hawaii Supreme Court usually heard oral arguments in groups of 15 cases during a five-day period. One of each justice’s law clerks would provide memorandums to the justices analyzing the issues, research on relevant law and the clerk’s recommendation. Levinson still has a copy of that momentous memorandum at his home and reads the opening lines that contain “dismiss” and “prohibition of same-sex marriage.”

“That piqued my interest,” Levinson laughs.

After reading the full memorandum, he says it “made sense” to him that the lower court had erroneously dismissed the case and there was merit to the plaintiff’s claims of sex discrimination. He and Justice Ronald T.Y. Moon agreed in the plurality opinion that opened the global door for same-sex marriage challenges.

“It was exciting,” Levinson says. “Although one joins a court hoping that one might have an opportunity to bring about profound change for the better, an opportunity presented like Baehr v Lewin doesn’t come along every day. The Hawaii Supreme Court changed the history of the world.”

The impact of the ruling hit closer to home less than two years later when he learned his daughter was a lesbian.

“I really wanted to officiate over the first same-sex marriage,” Levinson remembers. “I had the dream that I would get to marry my daughter, Jen, at Haiku Gardens, but the 1998 amendment did me out of that opportunity.”

Levinson, however, still got to be an indirect part of one of the country’s first legal same-sex marriages, a ceremony whose officiant was Levinson’s high school debate partner, the Rev. Bill Sinkford, president of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations.

Now retired from the Supreme Court, Levinson is writing a history on the chapter of his life that followed.

Levinson’s first wife, Lynn, succumbed to cancer about a year after Cathy Izumi lost her husband, Francis. The couples had crossed paths numerous times over the decades through the legal community. Cathy remembers reading Lynn’s obituary in the newspaper.

“It was like reliving Francis’ death all over again,” she says, and she wanted to reach out. Meeting again at a community function, Cathy and Steven exchanged phone numbers, and their first phone conversation lasted an hour.

Before ending the call, Levinson mentioned that he just found his season tickets to the Manoa Valley Theater and invited Cathy to join him. Cathy asked what the show was, and when Levinson responded Forever Plaid, Cathy agreed to go.

“Music from the 50s and 60s was all I could listen to because it was not part of my first marriage,” Cathy said.

“And that date never ended,” Levinson adds as both laugh.

The couple remain hopeful that the dream of relationship recognition, not only for Levinson's daughter, but for all Hawaii's citizens, will be realized.

“It’s time for real aloha to be extended to the LGBT community and that community’s entitlement to the same opportunity as other communities,” Levinson says. “It is just a matter of time before those attitudes and barriers are obsolete. One of these days, we’ll catch up with Iowa.” •