Hawai'i Legislators choose to hear bill on civil unions

[The Sushi Bandit]

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Feb/19/ln/ln01a.html

In the midst of the national controversy over same-sex marriages, key Hawai'i lawmakers have decided to hear a bill tonight that would allow gay couples to form civil unions that give them the same benefits and obligations as married people.

House Bill 1024 was introduced last year by House Judiciary Chairman Eric Hamakawa, D-3rd (Hilo, Kea'au, Mountain View) and Vice Chairman Blake Oshiro, D-33rd (Halawa, 'Aiea, Pearlridge), but it did not receive a hearing. It is getting an airing now, House Democratic leaders said yesterday, in large part because of the national debate.

Gay rights advocates hailed the decision, although they still believe the goal should be legalization of same-sex marriages.

[BayCityProgressive]

1. good

the more states that have gay marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships by November..the easier it will be for our candidate to say it is mainstream.

[lcordero]

2. Wait a minute

How did they lose gay marriage in Hawaii?

Oops, nm, the two bodybuilder types that got married in Hawaii were married in 1989.

[KamaAina]

3. They put it to a referendum, that's how

Oh, how democratic! Let the people decide! </sarcasm> An activist friend of mine once put it to me succinctly: "You do not put people's basic rights to a vote. What if there were a ballot question that read, 'Shall black people be allowed to vote?'?"

These days the referendum process is nothing but an open invitation to big-money interests to flood the airwaves with propaganda. In this case, the Catholic and Mormon (~12% of our population) churches combined to ram the vote through.

Opponents of same-sex marriage criticized any move to pass civil-union legislation. City Councilman Mike Gabbard, founder of the Alliance for Traditional Marriage and Values, pointed out that an overwhelming majority of Hawai'i's electorate voted for a constitutional amendment in 1998 allowing the Legislature to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman.

Believe it or not, Councilreptile Gabbard is a Hare Krishna. That is correct. In Hawai'i, the Hare Krishnas are a key component of the religious right. Gabbard and his wife Carol, who as a School Board member fights against not only equal rights for gay students, but evolution as well, got their start running a deli at a natural food store. Even there, they acquired an island-wide reputation as vile homophobes.

Thanks to all this, we lost a chance to show some real national leadership for once.

[bspence]

4. Is that how you spell "Hawaii"?

With the apostrophe? Hawai'i? Never seen it spelled like that, but it makes sense to me...

Golly, learn something new every day. :)

Hawai'i is pretty liberal, am I right?

[KamaAina]

5. The apostrophe is called an 'okina

it is actually a consonant in the Hawaiian language. It sounds like the space in "uh-oh" (or "Trenton" or "New Britain", if you're an East Coaster).

Early Polynesians spoke of an island called "Hawaiki", "the next place". Over time the 'k' elided to an 'okina.

Properly the 'okina should be written as an open single quote, rather than an apostrophe. Misplaced 'okinas at our Convention Center actually made headlines a while back!

Liberal? Economically, to be sure -- but a Repuke governor (described by our own hatrack as a "vacuum bag"!), that two-to-one vote to keep discriminating against gay marriage, and the increasing drumbeat of law-'n'-order propaganda surrounding the "ice" (crystal meth) epidemic make me wonder. Perhaps 'tolerant' might be a better description.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. You are nice

we just moved back to Cali from Hawaii, after three years courtesy of the US Navy.

Now what you said about Lingle and Law and Order the state of Hawaii will regret, just as the Pineaple lottery, what a scam!!! and modelled on the very succesful (sarcasm) Cali lottery.

Anyhow, it is a nice place to visit, but for many reasons, including education, or rather lack off, and the lack of involvement by most of the people... that is a place I would not like to raise children at.

Did I mention the racism vis a vis Howlies?