Date: Mon, 14 Nov 94 10:43:49 HST
From: ramsey@math.hawaii.edu
Subject: HAWAII, NOV. 14

		FUNDAMENTALISTS CHALLENGE HAWAII'S 
		COMMISSION ON SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND
		THE LAW

	In a move of the greatest irony, a fundamentalist
(Marianist) Roman Catholic layman and an Assembly of God
minister have sued the State of Hawaii in Federal Court to
stop the state's Commission on Sexual Orientation and the
Law.  Their grounds are that the commission violates the
separation of church and state, because the Roman Catholic
Church and the Mormons each appointed 2 members of the
commission as specified by the legislative act which creates
the commission.

	The lawsuit is not given much chance.  First, the
Roman Catholic may have no standing, since the law clearly
doesn't discriminate against Roman Catholics (unless he
argues that his church does not represent true Catholicism 
and hence doesn't represent his views).  Second, earlier
federal court lawsuits failed to set aside one of Hawaii's
state holidays (Good Friday) on the grounds that it established
a religion.  The lawsuit may have factual flaws as well
(the newspapers report that Quakers were also specified as
commission members; they weren't, but AFSC did appoint two
members---many people don't realize that the Quaker-inspired
AFSC includes many non-Quakers).

	For once, the marriage project is not responsible
for any of this litigation:  the State of Hawaii's Attorney
General (whom we oppose in court over same-sex marriages)
will have to defend the State against this right-wing
attack.  We are delighted with the public relations aspect
of highlighting the separation of Church and State.  Separation
of Church and State is dimly understood by most Americans,
and is generally viewed as communist or something equally
subversive. 


				Tom Ramsey
				Secretary
				HERMP Steering Committee