Subject: More Questions and Answers on Hawaii Amendment - from Hawaii Gay Marriage Projec
From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 18:30:36 -0400 (EDT)

Hawaii Gay Marriage Project - Responds to latest questions from CW

4-20-97

Q 1.  Assuming the amendment passes the legislature, can an effective
 challenge be filed in court to prevent it from being put on the November
 1998 ballot?  

A.  Right now there appears no way to stop amendment from going on ballot
unless there is a technical procedural error in way it passes legilature in
accordance with our amendment process.
 
 Q2.  Will the reciprocal beneficiaries bill receive the support of 2/3 of
 the House and Senate when it is voted on?  

A.    Only needs 51% because it is a statutue change not an amendment.  As of
today that will not be difficult to get.  

Q3.. Do you think the governor would veto the bill because it provides a
woefully inadequate set of benefits? 

A.  HB118 is unconstitutional on several legal basis.  However, as of today
Governor intends to sign bill no matter what his legal counsel - aattorney
general says.  Having believed this dishonorable and anti-Gay rights
individual and knowing some of his appointees I believe that he may very well
veto it after the amendment is passed out of Senate.  Yesterday he stated:
"This [homosexuals) is a problem Man has had to deal with since before time .
. . "

Q4.  Is he supportive of the bill as currently written?  

A.  For political reasons he says he will support any bill if it will take
issue off center stage.  He publicly pushed the legislature to pass any
amendment for that purpose.  He said the House or Senate version of the
amendment was OK by him.

Q5.  If Governor Cayetano vetoed the bill, would that help us or hurt us
overall?  

If he did so before the Senate voted on amendment they have said they would
not pass out the amendment.  They stated they would only pass amendment if
the partial rights bill passed along with it.  Before the amendment was
agreed upon last week Senate insisted Governor sign the partial rights
package before the amendment was to be voted on.  But after the amendment was
agreed upon these same senate "leaders" said they believed the Governor would
sign it so they will go ahead and pass amendment without his signature on
bill or before his date for veto must be announced.
 
Q6.  In the unhappy event the amendment passes in 1998, what are the chances
 that it could be successfully challenged on the basis of Romer v. Evans? 

A.  Very likely to be challenged in much the same way as Romer.

Q7. Or could it be challenged some other way?

A.  Several other ways are being looked at.
 
Answers and comments from Hawaii Gay Marriage Project

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