Subject: HAWAII, AUG. 17
From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 17 Aug 95 15:19:16 HST

GOVERNOR CAYETANO APPOINTS COMMISSION

	Today, August 18, Governor Cayetano's office released the
names of the new commission to study sexual orientation and the
law.  This commission will study the discrimination caused by denying
marriage licenses to same-sex couples and will recommend legislative
remedies for that discrimination in January 1996 to Hawaii's legislature.
The commission members are:

     Tom Gill, presiding:  former Lt. Governor and Congressman,
                           strong labor lawyer; designated to receive
                           a civil rights award at an upcoming ACLU-Hawaii
                           banquet in Honolulu in September

     K. Gomes, AFSC:  Ms. Gomes served on last year's commission as
                      as an official representative of the American
                      Friends Service Committee

     R. Stauffer, AFSC:  Mr. Stauffer served on last year's commission
                         as an official representative of the American
                         Friends Service Committee

     M. Britt, HSTA:  Mr. Britt is active in Dignity-Hawaii, the Catholic
                      gay organization, and in the teacher's union

     N. Kreidman:  Ms. Kriedman has been prominently active in anti-
                   violence projects which focus on female victims

     J. Hochberg:  attorney with the Rutherford Foundation, the same
                   people who volunteered to defend a Gulf Coast man
                   who murdered a doctor who practiced abortion

     Marie Sheldon:  attorney, politics unknown but perhaps active in
                     in the anti-abortion movement
   
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin of Friday, August 19, should have fuller
biographies and correct spellings of the participants names (I've only
been given the list over the telephone).  HERMP expects Hochberg and
Sheldon, who were suggested by Speaker Joe Souki of Hawaii's House,
to obstruct the proceedings at every turn.  Otherwise the commission
should be supportive of full civil rights for same-sex couples.
     	
	This commission replaces a now-defunct commission created in 1994
to do the same job; the earlier commission was flawed by the appointment of
official representatives from the Catholic and Mormon churches, which
appointments were successfully challenged in federal court by Christian
fundamentalists.

	HERMP volunteers plan to work intensively with the commission,
although the legislature may well ignore the results.  HERMP expects the
Hawaii Senate and the Governor to support the commission's recommendations,
but the Hawaii House is not likely to do so.  However, the presiding
judge on our Circuit hearings, Kevin Chang, has expressed interest in the
commission's findings.

			Aloha!

			Tom Ramsey
			Secretary, Steering Committee
			Hawaii Equal Rights Marriage Project