by Duke Aiona, Hawaii Family Advocates, September 12, 2016

Hawaii Family Advocates, and our community associate Hawaii Family Forum, are partnering with Family Policy Alliance to launch “Ask Me First.” “Ask Me First” is a campaign to draw attention to the stories of women and children who have been victimized by the push to open women’s facilities to men. It allows those who have experienced it first hand to have their story heard and validated. And, we hope it encourages our elected officials into thinking twice before they push dangerous bathroom policies.

Why does this matter in Hawaii?

Hawaii is often heralded as one of the most liberal states in the country based on its support for progressive positions on issues such as medical marijuana, same-sex marriage, and abortion.  In fact, the Transgender Law Center ranks Hawaii (see graph below) as “medium” for its laws promoting LGBT equality.

Same-sex marriage was legalized in November 2013, and contrary to North Carolina, Hawaii actually makes it easier for transgender people to be recognized by the gender they identify with. In May 2015, the Legislature passed a bill allowing transgender residents to change the gender on their birth certificates without having a sex change surgery.

You can help us raise awareness by signing on to a social media campaign through the Thunderclap app. All you have to do is click on this link, decide if you’d like to support the effort through Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr and on Friday, September 16, Thunderclap will send this post out to all your followers.

“The privacy and safety of our kids is more important than any social experiment. #AskMeFirst AskMeFirstPlease.com”

Our goal is to get at least 100 people signed on to the effort – that translates to thousands of people getting this tweet and sharing it with others!

Won’t you please help us meet that goal?

No woman or child should be forced to share these most intimate facilities with a man. It’s time to #Ask Me First!