Christians in Hawaii credited for gay civil unions defeat

Mar 26, 2009
by Michael Foust

HONOLULU (BP)--One month after its passage appeared all but certain, a bill to legalize civil unions in Hawaii was rejected Wednesday in the state Senate, and observers on both sides are pointing to an outpouring of opposition from Christians as a main reason.

The bill would have made Hawaii the sixth state to grant homosexual couples all the legal benefit of marriage minus the name. The bill deadlocked at 3-3 in a Senate committee Feb. 25 but nevertheless appeared headed for passage when Democratic leaders claimed they had majority support for it in the full body. But support plummeted in the following days, and on Wednesday an attempt to pull it from committee failed, with only six of 24 senators supporting the action. It needed nine votes -- one third of the body -- to be considered on the floor.

The turning point turned out to be a rally at the state capitol Feb. 22 in which 8,000 to 12,000 opponents -- most dressed in red -- urged senators to defeat the bill, which had passed the House, 33-17. the rest