Civil Unions Bill

[AlohaSteven]

On 13JUL kalama boy wrote-
"As Ive said my thoughts on equal rights are that they should actually be...........equal...[civil unions]...Of course homosexuals would then not be able to call their union a marriage, which to many, may be to great a cost."

On 08JUL AlohaSteven wrote-
"Let me put it another way: if a marriage certificate and a civil union certificate are exactly the same (equal) and I should not mind having the one and being excluded from the other, then why have exclusionary laws been struck down excluding African Americans from drinking at government water fountains marked 'Whites Only'? There is a separate but equal water fountain provided and labeled for Blacks located just a few feet away, identical to the water fountain for Whites. Why should African Americans care if they are not allowed to drink from the same water fountain paid for equally with their tax money as the one Whites are drinking from? Well, if it is not the same exact treatment under the law--the same water fountain--then it is not actually equal treatment, now is it? So, tell me why I should be happy with a 'civil union' instead of a marriage, just like anyone else who pays his or her taxes?"

My questions stand, and not just to be snarky but rather because I am genuinely wondering how one could acknowledge that equal treatment under the law is due but then embrace anything other than equal treatment as being acceptable.

It strikes me as completely outrageous that here in Hawaii heterosexual convicted arsonists, child molesters, and serial killers can marry (the marriage can even occur while they are locked up in prison) but the Governor vetoed a bill which would extend not even equal treatment under the law (marriage) but this second class citizen compromise of "civil union" to same-sex families. I would have to hold my nose and choke down the bile rising in my gorge to register with my partner as a second class citizen for a civil union, but we would do so if we had the option because the practical costs of private legal documents to cover even just the limited areas a civil union would help with are too significant. But no, we do not even get to be second class citizens with a civil union here in Hawaii, despite actually paying proportionally more in taxes than married Hawaiian heterosexual couples. In fact, as matters stand we have fewer rights and less equality than do convicted psychopaths and sociopaths in prison as long as the murderers and other sickos are heterosexual. Is this justice? Is this even remotely equal treatment under the law? Is this a good reason for gay and lesbian tourists nationwide to boycott Hawaii as a travel destination? (-Oh yes, that is indeed the conversation going on right now; people nationwide are furious at Lingle's veto and a majority of Hawaii voters put Lingle in the position to exercise that veto).

Members of the KKK are probably never going to "accept" African Americans in the sense of embracing them as equally valued members of their private enclave subculture (though the Mormons did an about-face on asserting lots of melanin in one's skin marks one as being lesser, so perhaps even the KKK will someday amaze us) regardless of whatever the law says, but it is their prerogative to be as bigoted and prejudicial as they wish within their own club (as long as their club does not choose to accept public monies). This is not about acceptance by people who despise one because of skin color, religion, affectional orientation, or suchlike but rather is about holding equal rights under the law in public venues where everyone's tax money paid equally (at least in theory) toward evenhandedly administering a government of the people, by the people, for the people. That which matters (and hugely so) is that the law requires equal treatment in the public arena. So, why I should be happy with a "civil union" instead of a marriage, just like anyone else who pays his or her taxes? I may not be happy with the civil union compromise which is supposed to be separate but equal (even though it is obviously not equal) yet not even that lesser option is available thanks to Lingle, those who voted for her, and those who did not get off their butts to register and vote at all.



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