Subject: HAWAII APR 22
From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 21 Apr 96 23:14:05 HST

FIERCE PARLIAMENTARY MANEUVERING, CONT'D

	The week has been a wild roller-coaster for h.e.r.m.p and its
allies.  By mid-week, Senate Republicans were threatening to sue the
Senate leadership for not letting them have a vote on WHETHER to pull
the constitutional amendment (to ban same gender marriage) out of committee.

	The Senate President had referred the constitutional amendment
to a second committee (health, besides judiciary), thereby establishing
a second, consecutive, 20-day window during which it is not allowed to pull
the amendment to the Senate floor for a vote.  The Senate Republicans
vociferously opposed this second referral, and charged that it violated
Senate rules.

	By mid-week, the Senate President relented.  The referral to the
health committee was ended.  The day after, the two Senate Republicans
acknowledged that they didn't have the 9 votes (yet) needed to pull the
constitutional amendment from the Committee on the Judiciary.  The Senate
has 25 members, 2 of whom are Republican.

	In the meantime, the ACLU of Hawaii and the Japanese American
Citizens League had tired of the relentless advertising campaign waged
by the opponents of same gender marriage.  They raised some funds on
short notice to put print ads in the two Honolulu dailies on Friday,
Sunday and Monday.  The ads are different each day:  the first listed
some organizations which support same gender marriage, and the second listed 
some local religious leaders who likewise support same gender marriage.
I've not seen Monday's ads yet.

	On Sunday, at 1:30 pm, a House-Senate conference committee met
to debate the fate of the "Senator Holt bill" (defining, once again, marriage
as between a man and a woman).  The House wasn't having it, and tried to
substitute a constitutional amendment.  This constitutional amendment
wouldn't ban same gender marriage outright, but would give all power to
regulate marriage to the legislature (legislative action on marriage would
be deemed to automatically meet the equal justice provisions of the current
constitution, including the prohibition of sex discrimination).  This
particular amendment was not shown to the Senators prior to the meeting.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Rey Graulty argued that a constitutional amendment
did not fit the title of the bill under discussion, and argued that
the language of the Holt bill would be meaningful and useful to the state 
in court in its efforts to deny marriage rights to same gender couples.
The meeting ended without agreement.  No date was set for a second meeting.

	A second attempt to pull the "old" constitutional amendment out
of the Senate Judiciary committee is expected on Monday, Apr. 22.

					Best Regards,

					Tom Ramsey
					HERMP Co-Coordinator

P.S.  Web sites for HERMP information:
http://www.xq.com/hermp/
http://www.qrd.org/qrd/orgs/hermp/
http://www.tnight.com/hermp/
The latter is provided by a BBS, which also provides BBS access
to HERMP messages: Tropical Night BBS (808) 235-5558
telnet:bbs.tnight.com
A reader has reported that the following QRD URL does not work:
http://www.qrd.org/qrd/usa/hawaii/marriage.updates/
 
For the official report of the Commission on Sexual Orientation and
the Law:
http://www.hawaii.gov/lrb/solcvr.html
 
For legal documents related to Baehr v. Lewin (now Baehr v. Miike):
http://www.qrd.org/qrd/www/legal/
which has a link to marriage and Baehr v. Lewin
 
For national as well as Hawaii information:
http://nether.net/~rod/html/sub/marriage.html
http://www.well.com/user/davadam/hermp.html
http://www.eskimo.com/~demian/partners.html

      The Hawaii Equal Rights Marriage Project, HERMP, is the sole support
of the work of Dan Foley on Baehr v. Lewin (Foley is the attorney who makes
all court appearances on behalf of the plaintiff couples).  Please be generous
in support of HERMP; Hawaii is a small state, and the tiny gay and lesbian
community here is very active in advocacy work which HERMP cannot address.
Donations to HERMP are fully tax-deductible, and should be made out to
                     GLCC-HERMP
                     1521 Alexander Street, #503
                     Honolulu, HI 96822.
                        
      The HERMP branch in Kona, on the Big Island, has produced a T-shirt
for sale.  One can send a check for $17.50 to HERMP, P.O.Box 902, Captain
Cook, HI 96704, together with a note about being sent a T-shirt (S, M, L,
XL, XXL).  It is also available in a tank top.  The design is multi-color
on white.  A large triangle points down, with the letters h.e.r.m.p above
the triangle, some male-male, female-female symbols in the border of the
triangle and some palm trees.  To place an email order for T-shirts, or
to obtain more information, please email [email-masked].  An image of
the T-shirt is available via the WEB on
       http://www.qrd.org/QRD/www/usa/maine/hawaii-tee.html