Are we there yet?
One month after the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples were entitled to federal benefits, Hawaii democrats still haven't decided whether or not to call a special session of legislature.
In July I spent a few afternoons tagging along with a Kanu Hawaii Fellow going door to door in Pauoa and Ahuimanu to pass out information to the residents of these neighborhoods on their elected officials. I was surprised by who was up-to-date on their local politics, who was ignorant and, in a few cases, who was totally out-to-lunch.
One older Filipino gentleman turned down our page of information on his representative because politicians in Hawaii (all of them, he said) are allowing gay marriage to pass. “I don’t agree with that,” he said. “I’m a Christian. It’s in the bible.”
Since the Supreme Court’s June ruling that same-sex couples were entitled to federal benefits, there has been more talk of a special session of the legislature to perhaps legalize gay marriage in Hawaii. 13 states (California, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington) and the District of Columbia have already legalized it.
Hawaii Republican Assembly (HIRA) President Tito Montes sent out a “Red Alert” message asking for help to pressure state republican politicians to try and stop the special session.
“Democrats have organized to force their liberal social agenda on every man, woman and child in the islands,” says Montes. “Meanwhile, the Hawaii Republican Assembly is vexed at the lack of response on this issue from the Hawaii Republican Party. Why are they all choosing to be silent and inactive?”
Considering that it’s been about a month since the Supreme Court decision and state democrats still can’t make up their minds about the special session, it doesn’t really seem like they’re all that keen to see same-sex marriage legalized right away. Hawaii’s democrats aren’t really all that liberal as a whole. They represent such a wide range of political ideas beneath the Democratic Party umbrella that it could be challenging to get the ball rolling on this, especially for democrats who feel like their constituents are largely made up of people like our old Filipino gentleman
On the other hand, the entire Hawaii Federal delegation (Hirono, Hanabusa, Gabbard, Schatz) has endorsed the legalization of gay marriage in Hawaii, along with democrats like city councilmember Stanley Chang, Sen. Will Espero, Rep. Della Au Belatti, Rep. Chris Lee and Rep. Nicole Lowen. Rep. Cynthia Thielen, a republican, has also endorsed gay marriage.
View the above endorsements at Hawaii United for Marriage’s Facebook page.