This resolution was approved by an overwhelming majority vote of Hawaii Republican Party convention delegates May 15:
RESOLUTION URGING GOVERNOR LINGLE TO VETO HB 444 CIVIL UNIONS LEGISLATION
Whereas Hawaii’s Republicans believe in the values of liberty and equality of opportunity;
Whereas while people are free to choose their own lifestyle, not in violation of the rule of law, their choices may not always be good for all of society;
Whereas marriage is a fundamental institution of society, which must be protected and reserved for the unique and complementary union between one man and one woman; it is in the interest of the Government to accord special rights and privileges to the institution of marriage in order to foster and support marriage between one man and one woman so as to maintain society in the optimum family setting providing benefit to the couple and a father and a mother for any resultant offspring; no other human relationship provides that optimum setting for a child;
Whereas the People of the State of Hawaii in 1998 voted overwhelmingly to amend the Hawaii State Constitution reaffirming the power of the legislature to define Traditional Marriage as the union between one man and one woman, and only one man and one woman;
Whereas the Hawaii Supreme Court in Baehr v. Miike, affirmed the will of the people by ruling that restricting marriage to one man and one woman under Hawaii Revised Statute, Section 572-1 is not a violation of the equal protection clause of the Hawaii State Constitution and that same-sex marriage and civil unions are not Civil Rights;
Whereas if civil unions are enacted as provided in the HB 444 legislation, it will likely lead to same-sex marriage, as it did in the State of Connecticut;
Whereas equal rights are guaranteed no matter a person's gender, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation, no such guarantee exists for the institution of marriage;
Whereas the Hawaii State Legislature, without adequate public notice and without respect for sound public policy, on the last day in the last hour of the 2010 Legislative Session waived House Rules and passed HB 444 civil unions legislation, seen to be same-sex marriage in disguise or merely by another name, and sent the Bill to Governor Lingle for action;
Whereas HB 444, as passed by the Hawaii State Legislature during this era of severe economic difficulty for the State and People of Hawaii by the manner in which was passed, is potentially flawed legislation being signed into law; multiple legal, financial and technical aspects of the Bill require exhaustive review and thorough scrubbing to determine all possible unintended consequences of enacting HB 444;
Whereas the Hawaii Reciprocal Beneficiaries Act 383, codified into law in 1999, extends many of the benefits of Traditional Marriage sanctioned by the State to those couples consensually and legally declared in a Reciprocal Beneficiary relationship; no effort has been made to improve or update Act 383;
Now, therefore, be it Resolved, that the Hawaii Republican Party in convention at Honolulu, Hawaii, May 15, 2010 strongly urges Governor Lingle to veto HB 444 Civil Unions for the reasons stated above.
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