Gov. Lingle just announced that she's going to veto the civil unions.
Lingle just insured herself a legacy of hate.
More soon.
UPDATE: Lingle is "comfortable" with her decision. She wants the people of Hawaii to vote on the civil rights of the state's gay citizens. She said she did her very best to reach a "reasoned decision."
It's painful to listen to her explain her rationalization. This is one nasty elected official. And, she kept blaming the Hawaii legislature, i.e. the Democrats, for passing the bill. This is just the typical action of a homophobic GOPer.
During Q & A, Lingle said, "This will be the most watched decision I've ever made," but she hopes it doesn't define her. Too late.
Good lord, she actually said that she gave her decision "the dignity it deserves." Really?
ANOTHER UPDATE: Here's the statement from Freedom to Marry's Evan Wolfson:
"In the 1990s, Hawaii began the ongoing international movement toward ending gay couples' exclusion from marriage and was the first U.S. state to create a legal status to provide some state-level recognition and protections for same-sex couples. In the historic Baehr case, the Hawaii Supreme Court acknowledged a constitutional mandate to treat same-sex couples equally. Governor Lingle's decision to veto the civil union bill is deeply disappointing and unnecessarily delays Hawaii's journey toward fairness and equality. Governor Lingle has rejected the will of the state legislature and the advice of countless business and faith leaders and turned her back on the committed couples and Hawaii kin who have expressed their support for this measure. Freedom to Marry urges the Hawaii state legislature to overrule Governor Lingle's veto and take an important step toward fairness and equal protection for same-sex couples in Hawaii."Yet ANOTHER UPDATE: Lambda Legal and the ACLU are preparing a lawsuit against Hawaii:
Lambda Legal and the ACLU had readied a lawsuit after the House tabled HB 444 in January. The Hawai`i Senate had previously approved the bill by a veto-proof 18-to-7 majority and sent it back to the House for a conforming vote.
"We're obviously disappointed that Governor Lingle has, once again, used her power to deny the people of Hawai`i their civil rights" said Laurie Temple, Staff Attorney for the ACLU. "Luckily for the people of Hawai`i, however, our constitution prevents discrimination based on sexual orientation. If the Governor won't honor her oath to uphold the constitution, the courts will."
Hawai`i's constitution was amended in 1998 to allow the Legislature to restrict marriage to heterosexual couples, which it has done. This means same-sex couples cannot sue for full equality through marriage. Although civil unions are a lesser status than marriage, they would provide a full range of state law protections and duties to gay and lesbian couples, such as access to family court to dissolve the legal status in an orderly way, clear duties to pay child support and alimony as spouses must, and other vital protections. Bills to offer civil unions have been under steady consideration in the Hawai`i Legislature each year since 2001.
