Editorial regarding the 5/7/09 meeting the pull HB444 for a vote:
Equal rights are only for “straight” people, at least that’s what some of our legislators believe. And those opponents wearing their red shirts, well it appears the color red now symbolizes hate.
Who knew that a few legislators had a very good trick up their sleeve to first let us gay folks think we had a shot, then turn it right around and hand it to the “red shirts.”
And the consolation prize: “there’s always next year during the next Legislative Session.” Yeah, right. We all know what that means, and next year is a re-election year, so there’s even less chance for a Civil Union bill to get passed during that session.
Of course the good news this week is ten percent of the states now have same-sex marriage, that’s 5 states. And New Hampshire might make it the sixth.
So it appears there’s more of the Aloha Spirit on the East Coast in New England and Iowa than there is in Hawaii.
One would also wonder why those legislators did the right thing in spite of the Catholic Church or any other bigoted religious organization, but not here.
It also appears Hawaii may be the last state to provide its citizens with equal rights even though it was at the forefront a decade ago. And we may just have to wait until President Obama comes through on his promise to at least enact Federal Civil Unions. Of course it’s up to the Congress and the Senate to get legislation to him to sign.
What to do next? Get active to replace those legislators that tricked us first, some of them are democrats.
And support the Family Equality Coalition. That organization has taken the lead and done a marvelous job in getting us this far. They need your money donations no matter how small to continue their efforts.
Do you want same-sex marriage or same-sex civil unions in Hawaii?
Then please get more involved by signing up on the Family Equality Coalition website. This organization is actively involved in lobbying for new legislation in Hawaii to enable Same-Sex Civil Unions and/or Same-Sex Civil Marriage. Note, you do not need to be a registered voter in Hawaii to become a member of the Family Equality Coalition, and there is no membership fee.
