Subject: Press Release--Hawaii Marriage Project
From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 95 17:43:00 EST

SUBJECT: Press Release--Hawaii Marriage Project
DATE: 09-22-95   17:38 EST
PRIORITY: 

h.e.r.m.p.
The Hawaii Equal Rights Marriage Project

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                     For more information contact:
                                          Mark Breda, media chair
                                          phone (808) 951-7000
                                          phone (808) 942-3737
                                          pager (808) 641-2252

COMMISSION ON SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND THE LAW HOLDS FIRST HEARING

The Commission on Sexual Orientation and the Law, charged with reporting to
the 1996 Hawaii state legislature on the ramifications of extending legal and
economic benefits to same-gender couples, has held its first meeting.
Human-rights advocates were encouraged by the tone set for the proceedings by
commission chair Tom Gill.

In the next three months, the committee will have three tasks:  1) examine the
benefits conferred by marriage that are now denied same-gender couples; 2)
hold hearings on the public-policy reasons to extend the same benefits to
these couples and on legislation to implement it's recommendations; and 3)
draft such legislation along with a final report to the legislature convening
next January.

Hawaii Equal Rights Marriage Project Co-Coordinator Tom Ramsey is encouraged.
"The odds look good that the committee's ambitious schedule will be kept," he
says, "and that the resulting recommendations to the legislature will support
human rights." 

Chair Tom Gill, who has served Hawaii as a congressman and lieutenant
governor, is presently a labor lawyer; he has recently been selected to
receive a coveted civil-rights award from the American Civil Liberties Union. 
The remaining committee members are Morgan Britt, Ku'umealoha Gomes, Jim
Hochberg, Nanci Kriedman, Marie Sheldon and Robert Stauffer. Gomes and
Stauffer served on a previously appointed commission that reviewed about 40
percent of the applicable laws in the Hawaii Revised Statutes before being
dissolved during the 1995 session. Gomes is the director of the Kuu'ana
student services program at the University of Hawaii. Stauffer is a former
homeless program coordinator for the state, now working as a lecturer in the
University of Hawaii's ethnic studies program.  Both are staunch defenders of
human rights. Britt is a teacher at a local intermediate school and is active
in the teacher's union. Hochberg is an attorney with the Rutherford
Foundation, an organization supported by the religious right. Nanci Kriedman
is the executive director of the Domestic Violence Clearinghouse and Legal
Hotline, and active in anti-violence projects for female victims.  Sheldon is
an attorney with the Honolulu firm of Reid, Richards and Miyagi.

Baehr v. Lewin, the case that will decide whether or not Hawaii's same-gender
couples will be allowed to wed, is scheduled to be heard in Circuit Court in
July, 1996, and any bill that passes the upcoming legislature may profoundly
affect the case.

HERMP is a volunteer non-profit organization dedicated to securing
full-fledged marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples in Hawaii.  For
information or contributions, contact:
            The Hawaii Equal Rights Marriage Project
            HERMP/GLCC
            1820 University Avenue #208
            Honolulu HI  96822
            (808) 951-7000