Date: Thu, 27 Oct 1994 15:18:39 -0400
From: David B. O'Donnell <atropos@aol.net>
Subject: HAWAII, OCT. 26


                JUDGE KIMURA WILL HEAD COMMISSION ON SEXUAL
                       ORIENTATION AND THE LAW

    John Waihee, governor of Hawaii, has appointed Judge Shunichi
Kimura (retired) to head the 11-person Commission On Sexual Orientation
and the Law.  This commission was created by the legislature of Hawaii.
In the words of legislature, the purpose of the commission shall be to

     ``1)  Examine the precise legal and economic benefits extended to
     opposite-sex couples, but not to same-sex couples; 2) Examine whether
     substantial public policy reasons exist to extend such benefits
     to same-sex couples and the reasons therefor; and 3) Recommend
     appropriate action which may be taken by the legislature to
     extend such benefits to same-sex couples.''

It was originally intended that the commission recommend specific
legislation by January, 1995.  Despite the late start of the commission,
the political consensus is that the commission may have a report by March
of 1995.

     Judge Kimura is a former mayor of Hawaii (the largest island
geographically, with about 100,000 people), a former circuit court judge,
and former head of the Hawaii [County] Charter Commission.  He has an excellent
reputation as a jurist: cool, deliberate, and intellectual.  Dan Foley, lawyer
for the same sex marriage case, views the appointment as one of great stature.
Judge Kimura's position on same-sex marriage is not known, but he's from the
generation of Japanese-Americans who suffered the alienation of internment in
World War II.  Judge Kimura's appointment is a strong sign that the legislative
leadership takes the commission very seriously.

    The commission is stacked in favor of full civil rights for gay men and
lesbians, by a vote of 6 to 4 without counting Judge Kimura's vote.