Lawmakers say Lingle's successor will have to deal with civil unions

The Maui News
July 8, 2010

By CHRIS HAMILTON, Staff Writer

WAILUKU - A day after Republican Gov. Linda Lingle vetoed a bill that would have allowed same-sex couples in Hawaii to enter into legal civil unions, several members of Maui County's all-Democratic state legislative delegation said the issue is far from over.

When she vetoed House Bill 444 on the Tuesday deadline, Lingle said the voters should decide.

However, Maui County lawmakers said, instead, Lingle's successor will have to deal with it. That's because they doubted that the required two-thirds of legislators would agree to put the matter before voters who have not agreed in Hawaii's recent past that same-sex couples deserve the same marital rights that heterosexuals have.

As for solving the problem this year, the House doesn't have the votes to override Lingle, and the deadline already passed to reconvene the Legislature in 2010. If it were to go before voters, that would not happen until the 2012 November elections, where it would appear as a state constitutional amendment.

"It's a sad, sad day for American civil rights," said South Maui Rep. Joe Bertram III.

Republican Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona and Democratic Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann are two of the three leading candidates to replace Lingle. While Hannemann wants voters to decide on civil unions, Aiona supports a new constitutional amendment reserving marriage between a man and woman.

However, Hannemann's opponent in this year's September primary, former U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, said he would support the decision of the Legislature.

All but one of Maui County's nine members of the state House and the Senate voted in favor of the civil unions bill, which passed the Legislature on the last day of the session with a House vote of 31-20, three shy of the amount needed for an override of the governor's veto. The Senate vote was 18-7.

Central Maui Rep. Joe Souki voted against the bill. On Wednesday, he said he'd rather not comment. Souki said he voted his conscience, but he feels the bill supporters' pain.

"No one won in this," Souki said.

Civil unions are different than marriage, Bertram said. They apply to both same-sex and heterosexual couples. The contractual benefits include visitation rights in hospitals and child custody.

Lingle insisted that a civil union is marriage by another name. She also accused House leadership of trying to pass the bill through at the 11th hour.

Civil unions were always on the table this year, and they only took it up after the state deficit was solved, said Rep. Gil Keith-Agaran, who represents Wailuku, Kahului and Paia. The passage of House Bill 444 would have made Hawaii one of 11 states in the nation that permits either civil unions or same-sex marriage.

"Historically, I don't believe a majority has voted to grant rights to a minority," Keith-Agaran said. "I'd like to believe that people of good faith would be willing to be tolerant, but I'm a little skeptical."

He said he is curious to see what solution Aiona would offer if elected. Keith-Agaran said that Aiona has expressed a willingness to provide "reciprocal benefits" to same-sex partners. It's not marriage or a civil union, but it would allow them certain rights they don't have today.

"People are so emotional about this that it's hard to even have a discussion about it," said Rep. Angus McKelvey, whose district includes West Maui and north Kihei.

Just to get the issue on the ballot will require a two-thirds vote from both the House and the Senate, something lawmakers doubted would occur. Pro-civil union legislators aren't going to risk its future to the voters, a few lawmakers said.

After the Hawaii Supreme Court backed gay marriage in 1998. Nearly 70 percent of Hawaii voters approved a constitutional amendment granting the state Legislature the power to reserve marriage for couples made up of one man and one woman.

"We're not talking about changing marriage," Bertram said. "We can't even if we wanted to. This is just a civil contract. Sure, it's kind of like marriage, but it isn't marriage. Marriage is a religious contract with God and the church."

Opponents of civil unions support a vote by the people of Hawaii to either put the issue to the test or to rest.

"I think the governor is using faulty logic," when she asked to put the issue before voters, said Sen. J. Kalani English, whose district covers East Maui, Upcountry, Molokai and Lanai. "We have a representative democracy . . . Essentially, if we had direct rule on every difficult issue, we would be led by mob rule, and the protection of minorities would be corrupted."

How much longer would it have taken for women and African-Americans to be granted equal protection and rights without brave lawmakers? English asked.

"I think that we're at one of the final frontiers of civil rights and civil liberties in the United States, and we have to think about the founding of this country and what the pursuit of happiness really means," English said. "If two people love and care for each other, isn't that the kind of stability we want in society?"

* Chris Hamilton can be reached at chamilton@mauinews.com.

Original article URL: http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/533218.html

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