Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 26, Number 7, 1 July 2009 — Civil unions are not enough [ARTICLE]

Civil unions are not enough

Anyone who believes that homosexuals are a danger to the safety and moral values of our society should consider: When has a group of gays beaten a heterosexual to death? When has a group of gays blown up a building, hijacked an airplane or committed any terrorist act? What gay group promotes religious fanaticism or goosesteps to the sound of chcking heels and gunfire while indoctrinating children into a lifestyle of fascism? Historically have gay groups massacred millions of human beings as they raped and pillaged, destroying science and culture in the name of God? Today, why is it OK for homosexual members of our nation's military to kill or to be killed in the pursuit of democracy in our nation's war on terrorism, but not OK for them to express their love for their life partner in the legal institution of marriage? In our society, sexual orientation is supposed to be a protected class alongside race, color and religion. Has the vote of the majority turned our democracy into a quasitheocracy? If any church or religious organization chooses to deny the sanctification of a gay marriage, then that is their ehoiee. However, our government should not have the ehoiee to deny a minority group equal rights

regardless of the majority vote. From an equal rights standpoint, reciprocal beneficiary and civil union statutes are no real concession; they are cubic zirconias. Legalizing gay marriage is the only just solution. Miehael Spiker Honolulu, Hawai'i n* I •