WASHINGTON — Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle
vetoed House Bill 444 Tuesday, which would have given all of “the same rights, benefits and responsibilities” of married couples to same-sex couples. Lingle stated that such an important issue impacting all families across the Islands should be decided by voters, not by elected officials or in the courts.
“The state of Hawaii should be focused on strengthening marriage, not radically changing,” said ADF Senior Counsel Brian Raum. “Gov. Lingle did the right thing by standing up for the people of Hawaii, protecting marriage as one man and one woman, and recognizing that this bill was a sneak attack on marriage.”
Last April, the Aloha State’s House of Representatives approved the measure ambiguously titled “A Bill for an Act Relating to Civil Unions.” Lingle noted in her
Statement of Objections that “civil unions” are “essentially marriage by another name.”
Lingle’s HB 444 Veto Statement declares her support of marriage as one man and one woman, as well as her objection to the deceptive means by which politicians used to pass the bill.
“Citizens of Hawaii don’t deserve to be deceived. They should know the truth that HB 444 was designed as a springboard to impose same-sex ‘marriage’ throughout the state,” said Honolulu attorney James Hochberg, one of nearly 1,800 attorneys in the ADF alliance. “Make no mistake: if this bill was signed, the next step was same-sex ‘marriage’ in Hawaii.
“Other states have already been fooled by this Trojan horse, which, in every case, led to demands for same-sex ‘marriage.’ Thankfully, Gov. Lingle put the people of Hawaii first and didn’t fall for the same trick we’ve seen across the country,” said Hawaii Family Forum Board Member and Attorney Sandy Young. “Using this civil unions bill as a legal battering ram to redefine marriage says a lot about the extent to which radical activist groups like the Gill Foundation, will go to impose the homosexual agenda.”
ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.
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