Date: Wed, 04 Dec 1996 15:39:48 -1000 From: Maggie Heineman Subject: News Release from Center for Law and Policy This news release (in a format that is appropriate for the fax machine) was release by the Center for Lesbian and Gay Law and Public Policy. Please distribute widely in Pennsylvania: ____________________ The Center for Lesbian and Gay Law and Public Policy NEWS RELEASE December 3, 1996 CONTACT (215) 413-0509 ANDREW PARK GAYS CAN MARRY SAYS HAWAIIAN COURT LEGAL EFFECT IN PENNSYLVANIA IS UNKNOWN On Tuesday evening, eastern standard time, Hawaiian Circuit Court Judge Kevin Chang issued a decision in what has become known as the "Hawaiian marriage case," Beahr v. Miik. In that case, same-gender couples sued the state of Hawaii because they were denied a marriage license. The couples claimed that the denial violated the Hawaiian state constitutional prohibition against sex discrimination. The judge ordered the state of Hawaii to cease and desist its practice of denying civil marriage licenses to same-gender couples. The decision held that the government did not meet its burden in justifying why marriage should be limited to opposite-gender couples. "The Court recognized that all the reasons traditionally cited to exclude same-gender couples from getting married do not make sense," stated Andrew Park, Esq., Executive Director of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Law and Public Policy. Hawaii tried to argue that two opposite gender parents are necessary for the proper rearing of children. However, after weeks of trial, the expert testimony offered by attorneys for the state of Hawaii could not support this. "Gays and lesbians have been rearing children for years. When you have two loving parents seeking to raise a child and get married, how can denying them a marriage license help that child? Expert data supports the conclusion that gays parents are just as good as straight parents. Hawaii also insults single parents by saying that children should be raised only by a man and a women together. Besides, marriages aren't only just to rear children. Straight couples who do not want to have children are allowed to be married. This is discrimination pure and simple," observed Park. Pennsylvania recently adopted legislation which would prohibit same-gender couples from being married in this state. The legislation also states that Pennsylvania will not recognize same-gender marriages from other states. The legislation remains untested in Court. "It is improbable that this would even be an issue in Pennsylvania any time soon. Pennsylvanian gay couples will not be flocking to Hawaii to get married," observes Park. "The state of Hawaii will ask that Judge Chang's decision be stayed pending appeal all the way to the Hawaiian Supreme Court. This decision won't be final for another couple of years. Further, Hawaii is going to have a Constitutional Convention next year. Opponents of gay marriage will try to prohibit it through a constitutional amendment at that time. This issue is far from decided," predicted Andrew Park. "Nevertheless, this decision is an historic breakthrough in ending second class status for gay families. Just twenty years ago, the Supreme Court ended state discrimination against couples just because they were from different races. We realized that those state laws, which were defended as preserving 'traditional marriage,' were unfair. This decision seeks to end discrimination just because the couple is from the same gender," added Park. "Without civil marriage, same gender couples face agonizing realities, like being barred from the hospital bedside of a partner in a medical emergency. Our lives are structured so that hundreds of obligations and benefits are available only through marriage. Family health coverage, divorce, custody and inheritance rights, as well as federal immigration rights are only a few. Here in Philadelphia, unmarried couples face one of the highest real estate transfer taxes in the country. Married couples are exempt," noted Park. "Supportive loving couples should have the right to marry. The government should not be in the business of arranging marriages. Marriage is a personal and fundamental right of any two consenting adults in a relationship," said Andrew Park. "This decision respects the rights of all people to marry the person they love."