From: Mia H H Lam Subject: URGENT! THE MORMONS HAVE ARRIVED! (fwd) Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 11:47:59 -1000 ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 11:38:15 -1000 From: Friends Of Marriage Project Hawaii Subject: URGENT! THE MORMONS HAVE ARRIVED! Dear Mia, The word from the Capitol is that the Mormons are visiting House members in opposition to SB2430 and SB3176. One legislators has already had 5 Mormon groups visit one office, just this morning, including two administrators from BYU-Hawaii. PLEASE VISIT THE CAPITOL IF YOU CAN! Be very gentle, bring flowers, leis, cookies, candy, whatever for the staff, and ask the House members to vote "yes" tomorrow (the vote will take place about 10 am on Tuesday) on SB3176 (making insurance more available to gay and lesbian couples) and SB2430 (ending housing discrimination for gays and lesbians). IF YOU CAN'T VISIT, CALL, FAX OR EMAIL. OR GET YOUR FRIENDS TO VISIT. The religious extremists are playing an interesting game. The Mormons never testified against the insurance bill (SB3176). BYU-Hawaii did testify against the housing bill, SB2430, but the House responded to the BYU testimony by giving church property an exemption from it. By the way, BYU does not need that protection; under the 1st amendment to the US Constitution any church can discriminate against any gay or lesbian any time it wants to. Another group, Family Forum, has a full paid lobbyist working the capitol---she sat quietly through the committee hearings and said nothing. My guess is that the Mormon leadership and Family Forum are trying to soft-pedal their being anti-gay. BYU-Hawaii has (and does) expell students for being gay, just for the orientation and not for sexual behavior. It is my impression that BYU-Hawaii doesn't want this known. So they are avoiding public testimony, but turning out some troops behind the scenes. PLEASE ACT NOW! Tom Ramsey President, Friends of Marriage Project Hawaii