Hilton Lagoon & Rainbow Tower in Honolulu
Posted on 04/30/2010 1:42:18 PM PDT by NYer
HONOLULU, April 30, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Pro-family advocates were taken by surprise when the Hawaii House of Representatives unexpectedly revived and passed legislation that would establish same-sex civil unions and make them equivalent to marriage, nearly three months after everyone thought the issue was a dead letter.
The Senate bill taken up by the House (HB 444) "extends the same rights, benefits, protections, and responsibilities of spouses in a marriage to partners in a civil union."
Back in February, the House decided to take the legislation off its agenda for the rest of the legislative year in a voice vote that would have required two-thirds of the Democratic-controlled chamber to revive the issue.
However on Thursday, the very last day of the state’s legislative session, Rep. Blake Oshiro moved to revive the Senate bill. Instead of following the rules established for taking up the shelved bill, Speaker Calvin Say had the House take four votes to suspend those rules and pass the bill with just a majority.
The bill passed 31 votes in favor to 20 against, and will now proceed to the desk of Republican Gov. Linda Lingle. The governor has 45 days to make a decision on whether to sign or veto the civil unions bill, and has not indicated which way she will decide.
Pro-family advocates were caught off-guard by this legislative bait-and-switch, since the House rules governing the postponed bill appeared to make it impossible to revive it without the two-thirds majority, which same-sex civil union advocates did not have.
It was only the evening before the vote that the Catholic Church in Hawaii caught wind of the rumor that the bill would be somehow resurrected, and fired off a press release at 7:30 pm, asking Catholics and pro-family advocates to mobilize against the bill.
"We are disappointed, and we hope and pray the governor will veto the bill, both because of the content — which is marriage in disguise — and because it is poor legislation," said Rev. Marc Alexander, vicar general of the Honolulu diocese, according to Hawaii’s Star Bulletin.
"This is unfair and untimely," Rep. Gene Ward (R, Hawaii Kai), an opponent of the bill, told the Bulletin, indicating that it was an invitation to political suicide. "This is going to cause chaos in the community."
Political chaos may indeed loom on the horizon - the House leadership decided to vote on the issue in the run-up to both a special election for Hawaii’s 1st Congressional District, and the 2010 elections, ensuring that the issue will be fresh in the minds of voters in an already unfavorable political climate.
Honolulu City Council Charles K. Djou, the Republican contender for the special election and a conservative with support from the Tea Party groups, blasted the passage of the legislation.
“Hawaii voters have spoken very clearly in support of traditional marriage,” said Djou in a statement condemning the legislature, which he said “clearly and blatantly ignored the will of the people of Hawaii on this issue.”
Djou also took aim at his two Democrat opponents Ed Case, a supporter of same-sex “marriage,” and Senate president Colleen Hanabusa, who voted for HB 444.
“Unlike both Ed Case and Colleen Hanabusa, my two major opponents in this congressional campaign, I will not ignore Hawaii voters and look forward to their judgment in our upcoming special election."
The special election is set for May 22 and is conducted by mail.
A recent Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll of the Hawaii First District special election reveals Djou has pulled ahead in the three-way race with 32 percent of the vote, followed by Case’s 29 percent, and Hanabusa at 28 percent.
See previous coverage by LifeSiteNews.com:
Hawaii Puts Same-Sex Unions Bill Back in Legislative Closet
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/feb/10020102.html
Whoever they're working for, it isn't you.
Hilton Lagoon & Rainbow Tower in Honolulu.
Yeah, they’re just packin’ em in.
And they will wonder why dumbacrates all over will lose this fall. Passing bills like this is bad business.
Yes, but once passed you can bet that the Repubs will not repeal it, they never do. So what do you get? A few years of do nothing Repubs that are then bounced out for the Rats who push things down hill a little father, then rinse and repeat. Two sides of the same coin unfortunately and I see no real hope of anything changing short of out right civil war. Best advise I think I’ve heard was from a web site about the decline of western civilization which basically boiled down to: “keep a low profile and try to enjoy what you can while you can”.
You’re right. I remember when Clinton and the Democrats passed a draconian tax bill on “rich” Social Security recipients making $32,000/yr. The Republicans made a big deal about it at the time, but never repealed it. Same with the increased gasoline tax.
Did they sneak this in via the back door?
Or when republicans made a big deal about low flow toilets. When they had the opportunity to repeal the law? They didn’t.
pink RINOs
One more reason I will never spend money in this State.
Vote them out! All of them. They did the same shenanigans up here.
Let’s hope the governor wisely vetoes this bill. The people don’t want it.
Democrats are being stupid once again. Hawaii overwhelmingly voted for a constitutional amendment to stop gay marriage and there is no indicator that the public have changed on the issue. Lingle needs to veto it and it will help Republicans in the state. Charles Djou may end up winning with a clear majority of the vote if the Democrats keep making bone head moves like this.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.