Democratic legislators, who hold overwhelming majorities in both the state House and Senate, are supporting a proposed civil union bill as one of the party's top priorities for this year's legislative session. If it passes, Hawaii would become only the fifth state to recognize either civil unions or gay marriage.
"Committed couples, regardless of their sexual preference or orientation, should have the same rights. That's the bottom line — we should treat people equally," said Gary Hooser, the state senate majority leader. "There's broad support among Democratic party members."
Despite the failure to legalize gay marriage almost a decade ago, this is at least an encouraging sign for some progressive change. I'm not fan of slow progress but I will take any victory at this point. It seems this has a reasonable chance of being passed. Republican Governor Linda Lingle is waiting on legislative approval for taking a position. Hopefully the absence of immediate opposition is a good sign, aside from the predictable Catholic church position.
This year, the civil union bill hasn't yet generated a similar public outcry.
The Catholic church in Hawaii opposes the idea, said spokeswoman Kelly Rosati. A spokeswoman for the Mormon church in Utah said she was not aware of any institutional involvement in Hawaii's civil union debate.
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