As has been well-reported, this afternoon the Hawaii state Senate passed the House version of SB1 19-4 with two excused. The bill, which legalizes same-sex marriage in the state, proceeds to Governor Neil Abercrombie, where it’s widely expected that he’ll sign it, perhaps within the next day.
Within minutes of the recording of the Senate vote, Hawaii Republican Party executive director Kayla Berube issued the following statement on the bill. Here it is, in its entirety:
“The Hawaii Republican Party appreciates that so many people, on both sides of this issue, passionately participated in the hearing process on this bill. However, what Hawaii witnessed during this special session was unprecedented – a democrat super majority side-stepped important issues like lowering the high cost of living for working class families or improving our keiki’s education, and instead pushed through controversial legislation in just ten days.
Governor Abercrombie and the Democrat political elite decided that Hawaii’s people are unfit to vote on important issues. Citizens may have been denied the right to vote on this issue, but next November they will not be denied the opportunity to vote on who represents them.”
Seems fair–let’s just wait until we solve those easy problems like the rising cost of living for working class families and childhood education before we start tackling civil rights for a long-discriminated against minority. And yes, we all know Republicans just love letting people vote on things–that’s why we call them “Republicans.”
In all seriousness, we actually agree with Berube that the Democratic Party’s super-majority is a matter of concern. Perhaps some day the Republican Party will get its act together and start fielding legitimate candidates against a few entrenched Democrats (like, oh, Maui Representatives Mele Carroll and Justin Woodson) who have shown they have no business being in public office.
Photo of two elephants kissing: Nicolas M. Perrault/Wikimedia Commons
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