Date: Tue, 22 Apr 1997 12:46:33 -1000 From: lambda@aloha.net (Martin Rice) Subject: Hawai`i Action Alerts, Information & Updates #14 Aloha kakahiaka kakou. More catch-up. This could be the last posting of this kind for about a week. AMY SAWYER: More information on the ACLU vigil TOM RAMSEY: Local News More on the vigil CAROLYN GOLOJUCH: Belated Thanks to Ken & Jim KATHY DEITSCH: Request for help: Evans v. Romer and Baehr v. Miike CAROL GREENHOUSE: Reaction to the events last week Comments on moving forward MARTIN RICE: Notes on the News SENATOR ROBERT BUNDA: Delayed response <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> AMY SAWYER: More information on the ACLU vigil >As promised I am forwarding more information regarding the 24 Hour [7] Day >vigil. It begins on [Tuesday, the 22nd] and continues until the 29th. We >would like to have at least two to three people at the capital around the >clock. We can accomplish this through shift committment of 2 hours or >more. > >Currently, Church of Crossroads has indicated that they could do a 24 hour >shift but have not committed to a day. MCC is committed to 2 hours this >Sunday evening. AFSC has committed to at least 6 hours Friday the 25th >and a Lutheran Church of Honolulu has committed to 3 hours on Wednesday, >the 23rd. > >The remaining days are obviously still open. I have received approval >from Jack Law to post a large sign in Hulas and Treats and the management >at 80 Percent Straight regarding the protest vigil (including information >on where to call and sign up for a shift). I was hoping Sue that we could >arrange to a get a sign posted at the GLCC. > >Please ask your constituents to contact the Hot Line at 522-5906 to sign >up for a shift. If they can only commit to a lunch hour, that's fine. >But they need to call so I can spread our presence throughout the week. I >am off tomorrow, but will be in on Monday. I have a schedule prepared so >if anyone calls tomorrow, Pila will handle. Also, Vanessa will be >changing the greeting on the Coalition Hot Line to inform incoming callers >about the vigil. > >Our capitol permit has certain provisions that all vigil participants must >follow. All signs must be handheld; no burning allowed; noise must not >interfere with session/public service; no food or other refreshments shall >be prepared or served on the Capitol Rotunda level (participants can eat >outside the Rotunda area near Father Damien statue); no stage, platform, >tents or structures of any kind will be permitted in the Capitol Rotunda >level. We are checking to see if sleeping bags are acceptable. Our >understanding is that chairs brought by participants are okay--but we are >checking to be sure. > >Please check in tomorrow--there may be more >information that you will need to pass along to your constituents. > >Amy, Coalition Asst. Coord. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> TOM RAMSEY: Local news adn more on the vigil ACLU TAKES A LEAF FROM PFLAG'S BOOK: VIGIL CALLED FOR NOW UNTIL THE END OF THE SESSION The vigil is of course a political action, but it's greatest impact is personal: to mourn with quiet dignity, yet publicly, is very powerful and healing. We have grief, anger, and even rage---this public mourning will help. Tom Ramsey >From the ACLU (hot line 522-5906): CIVIL RIGHTS VIGIL OF MOURNING State Capitol Rotunda Until Midnight April 29 Round the Clock Show your support fro civil rights by joining us in a "vigil of mourning". The purpose of the vigil is to underscore the unprecedented violation of civil rights posed by a constitutional amendment to prohibit same gender marriage. The same gender marriage case decided by the State Supreme Court extended ALL rights responsibilities and benefits to same gender couples. However, the "reciprocal beneficiaries" bill (separate from the constitutional amendment bill) severely RESTRICTS such duties and benefits to just 60 of over 200 possible. What the reciprocal beneficiaries bill grants can be repealed by a future legislature. Worst of all, traditional access to the courts by the people to seek extension of these other duties and benefits would be eliminated. THIS AMOUNTS TO SEPARATE AND UNEQUAL. COMPROMISE IS NOT JUSTICE WHEN IT COMES TO FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS. Please observe the following since the permit to use the Capitol is under the ACLU name and supervision: 1) Register your day, time and name of participants with us. Leave a key contact for your group and his/her phone number. Maybe your organization can cover one day. 2) Call the hot line at 522-5906 from 9 am to 5 pm the day of your vigil to confirm your group with us and find out about any last minute changes. 3) Our message is sadness. Please remain reflective and courteous in demeanor at all times. 4) Our signs say "Compromise is NOT justice". They may be picked up at the ACLU office. 5) Votes on HB 117 may take place on April 29; the Senate has approved HB 118 22-3; the House will vote on HB 118 on April 29. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> CAROLYN GOLOJUCH: Belated Thanks to Ken & Jim Good morning the morning after! Many thanks need to be said for some of our unsung heros: Ken Scott, and Jim Cartwright. Jim has been with us since our very first PFLAG Oahu meeting at the Church of the Cross Roads. He is a faithful board member and our official soft heart in the group. He many times expresses the feelings some of us can't for whatever reason. He is also a voice of reason when we get carried away with a good idea. Jim also shows up with bakery goods when the rest of us have gone for the sodium trail. Jim is many times the quiet one in the group but when he is quiet, I know he is just gathering his thoughts to blow us out of the water when we least expect it. For these and many other reasons, Jim is a great friend and a wonderful person to be part of our PFLAG Board and our lives. Thanks Jim for always being there. Ken is our Newsletter Editor and all around artist. He came to the PFLAG info table at our very first GLCC Dance in October 95 and came back to us at the Valentine's Dance and has been with us ever since. We can say that Ken brought the colors of the rainbow into our lives. The best example of this is our rainbow banner! He was the designer and chief director when we gathered in his home to produce this colorful wonder. Some of us can't draw stick figures but Ken can do anything. The newsletter continues to draw rave reviews and it's all due to Ken's artistic talents. We are lost when he's busy with other parts of his life. Ken is a whiz on the computer but more than that, he is great friend . His apartment is too close to UH and he becomes my official Cheer-Her-Upper when the battles become too much. He always has a CD or cup of Thai coffee to break the cloud of tears. He even perfected a decaf version for me! What a friend! PFLAG Oahu is what it is because of wonderful people like Jim and Ken. How could we forget them in the midst of the picnic is beyond me. I only hope they will forgive me for such a terrible oversight. CG <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> KATHY DEITSCH: Request for help: Evans v. Romer and Baehr v. Miike I am an editor and freelance writer in Denver, CO Would someone tell me how Romer Vs. Evans will or could play out in this Hawaii issue? It's mentioned in this email and I've not seen this before Thanks, Kathy Deitsch kdeitsch@aol.com [POSTER'S NOTE: Whomever may respond to this request, it would be great if you forwarded your response to us so that we can broadcast it. Mahalo!!) <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> >I am list owner and moderator of Action-Alert, a list which is used >for the GLB community to provide alerts. I've read your posts daily >from GLB-NEWS and also appreciate the hard work all of you are doing. > >As moderator of Action Alert, please keep me posted of any alerts you >need sent out. I'll help all I can. > >Action Alerts are normally a specific call to action (not press >releases or copies of articles from Fenceberry, etc.) All we ask is >a brief summary of the issue and the specific instructions needed for >action. To post, send mail to action-alert@casti.com > >More information is below. Keep up the fight! >Regards, > >--- >Moderator Email: action-alert-owner@casti.com >List Info: http://www.qrd.org/qrd/electronic/email/action-alert > >--- >_____________________________________________________________________________ > >* ACTION-ALERT is a moderated mailing list. * >* To subscribe to ACTION-ALERT, send mail to: majordomo@vector.casti.com * >* In the mail message, enter ONLY the words: subscribe action-alert * >* To unsubscribe to ACTION-ALERT, send mail to: majordomo@vector.casti.com * >* In the mail message, enter ONLY the words: unsubscribe action-alert * >* Words in the Subject: line are NOT processed! * >* List Information: http://www.qrd.org/qrd/electronic/email/action-alert * >_____________________________________________________________________________ <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> CAROL GREENHOUSE: Observations Fellow Activists, I want to say a few things in the wake of the pineapple post. I attended the conference committee meeting at the Hawaii legislature Wednesday night at which our leaders approved a bill that would put a constitutional amendment reserving marriage to opposite-sex couples on state ballots in 1998, as well as a companion bill that offered some rights now withheld from same-sex partners, but left omissions so appalling that they prevented enthusiasm or gratitude from rising in the hearts of those gathered there. Although we were fully prepared for this, when the legislators addressed their constituencies via the news cameras with flowery sound bites like, "this is a historic moment for gays and lesbians" and "now that an accord has been reached, the healing can begin," many of us oh-so-prepared ones began unexpectedly to cry. Let me see if I can put into words why that was, why Wednesday night was quite possibly the all-time low point for those of us who've ridden the same-sex marriage roller coaster for some years. It wasn't as if we'd been dealt a fatal blow; Marriage Project-Hawaii members had just left a meeting where we'd gone over it in detail: The constitutional amendment wouldn't come to a vote until November of 1998 and even if ratified, merely gave legislators the power to restrict marriage. A law would still have to be drafted and passed, which would take until 1999. Meanwhile, the state Supreme Court was expected to hear the case and rule in our favor, so same-gender marriage could be a reality before the amendment became part of Hawaii's constitution. No, what we were feeling was not failure. It was antipathy. "We don't accept gays and lesbians as equals," was the message broadcast by the legislators (regardless of their purported personal beliefs, which only heightened our dismay at the message), including a blind Representative and four Senators with spouses of other races. "Their deformity is so great they don't deserve the rights we give the handicapped, the mentally ill, the racial minority, the child abuser, the convicted murderer, the homeless, the Skid Row resident." I suspect the night will prove to be a turning point in the marriage campaign, that it will elevate the battle to another level, but only if we see it for what it is: our failure to educate the critical mass of people necessary to reach the goal. Though judges are charged with staking out and making camp on the moral high ground, legislators are responsible to represent their constituencies. If we had been able to exercise more pressure on them through letters, phone calls, rallies, faxes, and visits to the Capitol than the other side, we would not now be staring down the barrel of a constitutional amendment--but we were not effective enough at galvanizing either straight supporters or gay ones. Shutting down the pineapple industry isn't going to help us now. We need everyone's energy focused on the work it's going to take to win the next round. Those of us who have been flapping our arms and pointing at marriage for years as THE gay issue have done so because we believed the acceptance of gay marriage would be the quickest, easiest route to the real goal, the acceptance of gays; in effect, that it would do the job of education, would swing public opinion, for us. I still believe it's the most direct route, but marriage isn't going to do the education for us. We're going to have to do the education for marriage. Meanwhile, the opposition wants gays and lesbians to be invisible. And built into human nature is a quality that helps them get and keep control over many people, including homosexuals: the wish to be like, and liked by, others. My point is this: Before you go jerking the pineapple garnish off your tropical drink in aid of equality, come out. All the way. It's the best ammunition you have against the opposition. It's the best ammunition we all have. If you're out or when you get there, educate the people around you and ask for their help. I'd venture to say that even some of our most dedicated movement organizers have neglected to enlist the aid of their supportive friends, families, acquaintances. We don't have the numbers within the gay and lesbian community to get and keep marriage. We have to have everyone involved. The next step, if you're out of the closet and have enlisted help from folks around you (start small...would someone be willing to put a bumper sticker on his/her car? Could she/he make one call to their Representative?) is to find something you want to do, a part you want to have played when you explain all this to your grandkids or students or God-knows-who one day. In case you're at a loss, here are some of the things Marriage Project-Hawaii could use. We need your money (CHECKBOOK ACTIVISTS WANTED). You could earmark the money for a specific purpose if you'd like: education, advocacy, legal fees...It's fully tax-deductible. We need your time. To be used writing letters to the editor, talking to people--both gay and straight--about what gay rights are and why they're worth fighting for (I have a friend who's hosting a coming-out party for Ellen in her home on April 30, which seemed like a great way to educate sympathetic friends), and a lot more. We need your help raising funds nationally. Have a connection to the Indigo Girls, Elton John, Ellen? Want to host a fundraising dinner in your home or donate a round-the-world cruise to be raffled off? Know of a grant we might apply for? An enormous battle lies ahead, and we can't win on our own. We need your ideas. Bill Woods, who brought the six gay and lesbian plaintiffs together in the first place to apply for marriage licenses, once forced the Moral Majority out of Hawaii by registering the name "Moral Majority of Hawaii" and arranging for the mainland organization to be served a desist order during a local rally. If we can't yet outnumber the opposition, can we outmaneuver them? Thanks for listening. Aloha, Carol Greenhouse Marriage Project-Hawaii PO Box 11690 Honolulu, HI 96828 P.S. New t-shirts and bumper stickers bearing the words, "I DO...Support the Freedom to Marry" are available from Marriage Project-Hawaii, as are sexy blue-on-black caps that read simply, "I DO." Purchase one of these conversation pieces and start the dialogue. The shirts (S, M, L, XL, XXL in brown-on-natural, navy-on-light-blue, and cream-on-light-maroon) and caps are $16.50 including postage and handling; the bumper stickers (purple on white) are $1 apiece. Shirts, caps, and bumper stickers also are available in bulk with your organization's name on them. To place an order or find out more, contact skippero@aol.com Marriage Project-Hawaii (formerly the Hawaii Equal Rights Marriage Project) funds attorney Dan Foley's work on Baehr v. Miike in full, as well as maintaining a full-time lobbyist during Hawaii's legislative sessions, and mounting media and education campaigns throughout our six-island community. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> MARTIN RICE: Notes on the News Aloha awakea kakou. Several events of note yesterday impact our community, or could, or should. Sunday, Hawai`i woke-up to witness one of its most visible and widespread hatecrimes ever: the desecration of seven cemetaries on O`ahu. It became apparent from the writing that whoever spraypainted the hateful words bore a major grudge against the Honolulu Police Department but blamed Hawai`i and specifically Hawai`ians (that is to say indigenous people) for whatever transgression may have taken place. From the state Capitol the words "F**K HAWAI`I" can be seen spraypainted across one retaining wall of Punchbowl, the National Cemetary of the Pacific. Our community should be organizing a major visible graffiti cleanup drive, with a outgoing message concerning hatecrimes. Volunteer assistance can be offered at 566-1430. Speaking of hatecrimes, Senator Randall Iwase, in the Senate yesterday mentioned that he will introduce new hatecrimes bill next year. The bill, he said, will protect on the basis of religion, race and gender. Here we ago again. No mention of sexual orientation. Iwase has been one of our steadfast opponents on the marriage issue. Iwase, in a floor speech, also alluded to floor vote concerning HB 118, calling it a "two-year experiment in Aloha." House speaker Joe Souki said that he sent a letter to the other 50 members of the Hawai`i House of Representatives advising them not to take trips "out-of-state" in May. To reporters he expanded the letters noting that it was precautionary in nature, and an advisory as of yet. Souki said some major issues, primarily the budget, may not be resolved and the legislature will be forced to extend to meet the requirements of the session. What that means to our community is that if the session is extended, then a whole new set of deadlines come into play. The constitutional amendment could be rewritten! With seven days to go, it could be all up in the air again if the session is extended by simple agreement between the Speaker of the House, Joe Souki, and the President of the Senate, Norman Mizuguchi. Also, the governor could order the session back if it does not complete whatever work needs to be completed, as he sees fit. Apparently, the cost of entering into a reciprocal beneficiary partnership will remain tied to the cost of obtaining a marriage license: currently $8. My friend Bill Woods in Honolulu is maintaining a discussion group concerning the impact that the amendment may have. Contact him at hawaiigay1@aol.com (that's a "one" after gay) to get in on the discussion. The Senate voted yesterday on the reciprocal benficiaries bill by a vote of 22-3 in favor. The three opponents were Sam Slom (R-8th, `Aina Haina-Hawai`i Kai), Cal Kawamoto (D-19th, Pearl Harbor) and Marshall Ige (D-24th, Kane`ohe). More military connection linked to the denial of our rights, a theme presented before by this poster. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> SENATOR ROBERT BUNDA: Delayed response The Senate The Nineteenth Legislature of the State of Hawai`i State Capitol Honolulu, Hawai`i 96813 April 2, 1997 Dear Mr. Rice Thank you for your recent correspondence regarding the issue of same-sex marriage. I appreciate your taking the time to share your views on the subject. While I understand you desire for certain rights and privileges accorded to married couples, I cannot support extending the legal definition of marriage to include couples of the same gender. I believe marriage and family are the foundation of our society, a society that cannot continue to grow without preservation of these institutions. All citizens deserve to be treated with respect, regardless of their sexual orientation. I do not believe, however, equality and respect nees to be gained at the expense of marriage as a practice recognized throughout the history of the world. Thank you again for your correspondence. Sincerely, /s/ Robert Bunda <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> ~~pau~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Go ahead . . . SCARE the horses." --Bacsi ~~~~~ Fred and Martin 24 years, yet strangers before the law ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~