LGBT, Church groups mobilize around Horner nomination

How does talk over a Board of Education (BOE) confirmation hearing end up centering on marriage-equality and last October’s Special Legislative Session? When the man up for nomination to the BOE is Donald Horner.

Horner was appointed to the BOE by Governor Abercrombie in 2011 to fill a seat left vacant by Lei Ahu Isa. He was among the first wave of appointed chairmen after Hawaii voters overwhelmingly decided to give the governor the power to appoint the board. Now he’s up for re-appointment, his nomination currently scheduled for a hearing with Senator Jill Tokuda’s Committee on Education (EDU) tomorrow at 1:15 p.m.

Besides having served as CEO of First Hawaiian Bank from 2005 until September 2011, when he was first nominated to the BOE, Horner is also a registered pastor with New Hope (Diamond Head), one of the most vocal opposition church groups when it comes to same-sex marriage. Horner also sits on the Hawaii Pastor’s Roundtable, a group of Pastor’s that wrote several anti-marriage equality treatise during the special session (several members of the Roundtable are also involved with Transformation Hawaii, a non-profit that equates conservative Christian values, solely, with good societal values).

While on the BOE, however, Horner has remained neutral on the issue of marriage equality. The only incident that could be seen as a conflict of interest for Horner’s church ties is a memo Executive Pastor of New Hope Oahu John Tilton sent Horner requesting that he use his influence to lower rental fee rates and eliminate a provision that barred churches from leasing facilities for more than five years. Tilton sites the fact that his church had “invested millions in the renovation and upkeep of the auditorium and classroom” at Farrington High School. The letter was dated October 4, 2012. Three weeks later, DOE Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi deleted the five-year rule from application forms, and a couple weeks after that, the Farrington auditorium roof collapsed after years of apparent neglect.

It must also be pointed out, though, that the governor is a huge supporter of marriage equality and still nominated Horner. And, even though the memo from Tilton was addressed directly to Horner and even though New Hope Oahu got exactly what they wanted out of it, there is no actual proof that Horner used his influence as a state-appointed board member to help out his church.

Still, it’s not hard to see why activists from both sides will show up tomorrow. That being said, Sen. Tokuda is on Gov. Abercrombie’s side when it comes to a great deal of issues, chiefly early childhood education—an issue they’ve worked hard on together over the past two years. As this is a BOE nomination hearing, it’s likely Sen. Tokuda will frame the committee’s decision as being purely about education, even though most of the people in the committee room tomorrow will certainly not see it that way. The EDU committee, therefore, will likely pass Horner on to the full senate.