Hawaii House Hears From Public on Gay Marriage

And the "testimony" has started back up.

What a zoo!

This should have been addressed with the individual's elected representative BEFORE the bill came up.

How many times can we hear the same 3 basic arguments?

If these lawmakers can't effectively get on with their business without consulting the public what are they being paid for ? Why were they elected in the first place ?! Grotesque ..

david traversa wrote:

If these lawmakers can't effectively get on with their business without consulting the public what are they being paid for ? Why were they elected in the first place ?! Grotesque ..

Agree 100%.

On the other hand, half the public will be saying things like, "We just want to be able to protect our loved ones, and hold our heads up as proud citizens with full rights." And the other half will be saying things like, "They're devilish abominations trying to destroy society and recruit children!" I see nothing wrong with giving these two groups a platform for everyone to hear them. BOTH of these messages will help forward our goals.

I must say, I'm surprised at the turnout. I've read that several thousand showed up. Hawaii has about the same population as New Hampshire, and we had record-setting turnouts for our hearings--over 500 but much less than 1000. I would have expected the excitement to have died down by now. Here in the east, the homophobes have a difficult time scaring up a protest group.

I listened to the same things when marriage equality was before the Delaware legislature, thankfully it was not a free for all for anyone who wanted to chime in (it lasted about 2 hours). I cannot imagine how 4000+ different people can have that many different thoughts to share.

And although it passed, it was painful to listen to the outright bigotry being spouted by those who were against the proposal. And the one state senator who was leading the charge against the bill, recognizing that the votes were not on his side, proposed postponing the vote - a proposal which was defeated by the same senators (majority)who subsequently voted for marriage equality.

qwerty26 wrote:

I listened to the same things when marriage equality was before the Delaware legislature, thankfully it was not a free for all for anyone who wanted to chime in (it lasted about 2 hours). I cannot imagine how 4000+ different people can have that many different thoughts to share.

I assure you, they do not have that many different thoughts to share. Indeed, many do not have any thoughts of their own at all.

Half-an-hour is probably more than sufficient to summarize the arguments against same-sex marriage:

Two nuts or two bolts don't fit together.(This is sometimes illustrated with hand gestures.)
Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.
It's and exit, not an entrance.
Eating feces.
Promiscuity.
Cannot result in procreation.
They'll teach gay sex in kindergarten.
If everyone becomes gay, the human race will die out.
God said (insert one of five verses here).
Their children [the ones they can't make] will be stigmatized [by the people who don't want same-sex marriage].
Their children will not be able to tell the difference between men and women.
It's always been one man and one woman (for all six thousand years of Christian-Judaic history).
It will lead to polygamy.
It will lead to bestiality.
It will lead to incest.
Society will decline.(Look what happened to Rome.)
Nobody is really gay--just confused.
Gay people need to be cured.
Gay people were all abused or abandoned by their parents.
Yuckkkkkkkkkk!

Did I miss any?

nhjeff wrote:

<quoted text>
I assure you, they do not have that many different thoughts to share. Indeed, many do not have any thoughts of their own at all.
Half-an-hour is probably more than sufficient to summarize the arguments against same-sex marriage:
Two nuts or two bolts don't fit together.(This is sometimes illustrated with hand gestures.)
Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.
It's and exit, not an entrance.
Eating feces.
Promiscuity.
Cannot result in procreation.
They'll teach gay sex in kindergarten.
If everyone becomes gay, the human race will die out.
God said (insert one of five verses here).
Their children [the ones they can't make] will be stigmatized [by the people who don't want same-sex marriage].
Their children will not be able to tell the difference between men and women.
It's always been one man and one woman (for all six thousand years of Christian-Judaic history).
It will lead to polygamy.
It will lead to bestiality.
It will lead to incest.
Society will decline.(Look what happened to Rome.)
Nobody is really gay--just confused.
Gay people need to be cured.
Gay people were all abused or abandoned by their parents.
Yuckkkkkkkkkk!
Did I miss any?

I think you covered all of the anti-gay bigots complaints.......to bad NONE of them are true or matter!!!

So, did the bill pass the House? And if so.....when will Marriage Equality FINALLY start in Hawaii?

I think the legislature wants to be able to say they let they people have their say before passing the bill.

The anti-gays certainly did a good job turning out people to "testify".

I hope the pro-equality side did succumb to complacency.

Oops, obviously meant "didn't".

NorCal Native wrote:

<quoted text>
I think you covered all of the anti-gay bigots complaints.......to bad NONE of them are true or matter!!!
So, did the bill pass the House? And if so.....when will Marriage Equality FINALLY start in Hawaii?

No, the anti-gays are still "testifying".

This could last for days.

nhjeff wrote:

<quoted text>
I assure you, they do not have that many different thoughts to share. Indeed, many do not have any thoughts of their own at all.
Half-an-hour is probably more than sufficient to summarize the arguments against same-sex marriage:
Two nuts or two bolts don't fit together.(This is sometimes illustrated with hand gestures.)
Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.
It's and exit, not an entrance.
Eating feces.
Promiscuity.
Cannot result in procreation.
They'll teach gay sex in kindergarten.
If everyone becomes gay, the human race will die out.
God said (insert one of five verses here).
Their children [the ones they can't make] will be stigmatized [by the people who don't want same-sex marriage].
Their children will not be able to tell the difference between men and women.
It's always been one man and one woman (for all six thousand years of Christian-Judaic history).
It will lead to polygamy.
It will lead to bestiality.
It will lead to incest.
Society will decline.(Look what happened to Rome.)
Nobody is really gay--just confused.
Gay people need to be cured.
Gay people were all abused or abandoned by their parents.
Yuckkkkkkkkkk!
Did I miss any?

Nope. Stupid excuses didn't work in the USSC and won't work now.

WeTheSheeple wrote:

<quoted text>
No, the anti-gays are still "testifying".
This could last for days.

I haven't heard how things went today. My experience has always been that the homophobes don't have enough stamina, though. So we shall see whether more than 10% show up for the second day of hearings. By the third day, for sure they should be able to finish up.

Of course, there's always the possibility that the legislators themselves will drag the proceedings out by asking questions to the testifiers. That would be a new one by me... I've always observed that the legislators want to finish up as quickly as possible. But if they sense that delay is their only option, perhaps they will pursue it.

No matter what, however, the delay is finite since no one else can sign up. So the vote should happen next week.

If these lawmakers are going to allow the public to "vote" on whether to allow LGBT people to marry, then they should allow the public to "vote" on whether to allow Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist Americans to marry because these people are certainly NOT living the "Christian lifestyle". Why most of these people DON'T even celebrate Christmas ! Oh My ! How un-Christian can you get ?!

5,181 people signed up to speak for two minutes each
http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/2...

WeTheSheeple wrote:

<quoted text>
No, the anti-gays are still "testifying".
This could last for days.

Oh......ugh:(

Fa-Foxy wrote:

If these lawmakers are going to allow the public to "vote" on whether to allow LGBT people to marry, then they should allow the public to "vote" on whether to allow Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist Americans to marry because these people are certainly NOT living the "Christian lifestyle". Why most of these people DON'T even celebrate Christmas ! Oh My ! How un-Christian can you get ?!

Isn't Christmas that old Druid holiday where they decorate evergreens and offer gifts to the tree spirits?

nhjeff wrote:

<quoted text>
Isn't Christmas that old Druid holiday where they decorate evergreens and offer gifts to the tree spirits?

Christmas is when an obese redneck with a 96 inch waistline scoots up and down your 1-foot diameter prefab chimney pipe with a 6-foot diameter backpack full of toxic plastic chinese toys

nhjeff wrote:

<quoted text>
I assure you, they do not have that many different thoughts to share. Indeed, many do not have any thoughts of their own at all.
Half-an-hour is probably more than sufficient to summarize the arguments against same-sex marriage:
Two nuts or two bolts don't fit together.(This is sometimes illustrated with hand gestures.)
Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.
It's and exit, not an entrance.
Eating feces.
Promiscuity.
Cannot result in procreation.
They'll teach gay sex in kindergarten.
If everyone becomes gay, the human race will die out.
God said (insert one of five verses here).
Their children [the ones they can't make] will be stigmatized [by the people who don't want same-sex marriage].
Their children will not be able to tell the difference between men and women.
It's always been one man and one woman (for all six thousand years of Christian-Judaic history).
It will lead to polygamy.
It will lead to bestiality.
It will lead to incest.
Society will decline.(Look what happened to Rome.)
Nobody is really gay--just confused.
Gay people need to be cured.
Gay people were all abused or abandoned by their parents.
Yuckkkkkkkkkk!
Did I miss any?

I've watched about an hour of the hearings this evening.(Friday nights bring too much excitement to my household!) Much to my surprise, I've already learned something new: If Hawaii starts marrying same-sex couples, Chinese tourists will stop coming.(Or is it cumming?) Whatever.

nhjeff wrote:

<quoted text>
I haven't heard how things went today. My experience has always been that the homophobes don't have enough stamina, though. So we shall see whether more than 10% show up for the second day of hearings. By the third day, for sure they should be able to finish up.
Of course, there's always the possibility that the legislators themselves will drag the proceedings out by asking questions to the testifiers. That would be a new one by me... I've always observed that the legislators want to finish up as quickly as possible. But if they sense that delay is their only option, perhaps they will pursue it.
No matter what, however, the delay is finite since no one else can sign up. So the vote should happen next week.

Yes, you can tell from those 3 or 4 legislators who always seem to want to ask questions that they are opposed and realize all they can do is stall the inevitable vote.

That tells me it's likely to pass when they finally DO vote; likely next week.

If anyone wants to see how NOT to run a public hearing, this is a perfect example.

It's a zoo.

nhjeff wrote:

<quoted text>
I've watched about an hour of the hearings this evening.(Friday nights bring too much excitement to my household!) Much to my surprise, I've already learned something new: If Hawaii starts marrying same-sex couples, Chinese tourists will stop coming.(Or is it cumming?) Whatever.

No gay people in China ?!