Date: Tue, 15 Apr 97 13:32:25 HST
From: ramsey@math.hawaii.edu (Tom Ramsey)
Subject: HAWAII APRIL 15

		DUPLICITY AND COMPLICITY

	Saturday, Speaker Joe Souki crowed that Hawaii's House was
willing to grant "reciprocal beneficiaries" 90% of the rights under
Hawaii law that are enjoyed by married couples (health insurance was
the most important exclusion, and the effective date is about two
years away).  Speaker Souki was proud that this package was better
than that which existed in any state, or even the world [the latter
is false].

        Yesterday, Monday, the House trumpeted its concession on
health care benefits (the details are messy, and controversial as
usual).

	Silence---from Mormon leaders Jack Hoag and Debbie Hartman,
and Roman Catholic priest Mark Alexander, the leaders spearheading
the opposition to same-gender marriage.  In private, they've told
legislators that they'll implicitly accept domestic partnerships,
ANYTHING to stop same-gender marriage.

	Even Jay Sekulow, Pat Robertson's legal beagle, has given
domestic partnership the nod.  Mr. Sekulow, like the rest of us,
hung around Hawaii's Capitol until the early morning hours Friday
night, awaiting news of the outcome of House-Senate negotiations. 

	Even Mike Gabbard, a follower of Hare Krishna and leader
of the anti-gay-marriage Alliance for Traditional Marriage, is
for HB 118 (the "reciprocal beneficiary" bill).  Right now, HB 118
may have 60 rights in it, but please don't take that count seriously
(especially since ideas about the bill change hourly).

	I'm left wondering:  do the supporters of domestic partnership
in Brazil, where the Roman Catholic Church is a vigorous opponent,
know that the same church is bobbing and weaving in Hawaii (i.e.,
supporting domestic partnership in Hawaii)?

	Do the donors to Pat Robertson's 700 Club know that their
dollars are supporting Jay Sekulow into the wee hours of the morning
in Honolulu, winking and nodding at domestic partnership?

	I think of the hard fought campaign in California to get
a domestic partnership with just THREE rights---only to be vetoed
by their current jerk of a governor.  On what side were the Christian
Coalition, the Mormon leaders, and the hierarchy of the Roman
Catholic Church in that fight?

	Because some gay people in Hawaii have asked in all sincerity
for the most traditional of arrangements, namely marriage with all its
rights and obligations, our religious enemies are now supporting untried
social experiments involving "partial marriages" and FEWER obligations
(neither the Hawaii House nor the Senate have put divorce obligations
into their "reciprocal beneficiary" packages).  Moreover, our enemies
have extended this package to "incestuous" relationships (mothers and
sons, etc.).

	Can the effects of prejudice be more clearly illustrated,
for the effect it has on the bigot?  They can't SEE what they're doing.


					Best Regards,


					Tom Ramsey
					President, Friends of h.e.r.m.p


P.S.  PLEASE make a donation to
		
		Marriage Project Hawaii
		PO Box 11690
		Honolulu, HI 96828
		(tax deductible)

		Friends of h.e.r.m.p
		PO Box 11690
		Honolulu, HI 96828
		(non tax deductible)

Right now, I think we'll end up with BOTH marriage and
"reciprocal beneficiary" status, after a bruising battle
(all the way to the 1998 General Election?) over a
constitutional amendment.  Help us win this for all 
people in the United States.

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