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The thing many voters resented most about the long battle over same-sex marriage was the way it dominated Hawaii's political agenda for five years, stealing attention from far more important issues. Cease-fire in war
over gay rightsIt's disappointing to see the gay wars still raging nearly two years after Hawaii voters emphatically settled the marriage dispute with landslide approval of a constitutional amendment reserving state-sponsored matrimony for couples of the opposite sex.
No matter which way we turn, we see gay politics in our faces:
With all the problems in our public schools, we devoted the summer to arguing about whether to protect gay students from discrimination. It seems innocuous enough, but the anti-gay lobby sees it as an attempt to force a nefarious "gay agenda" on helpless boys and girls.
The diversion of attention from real issues will get worse. School board candidates on both sides of the gay battlefield are running exclusively on that issue.
Athletic director Hugh Yoshida made the mistake of admitting that part of the reason was that student athletes and their coaches didn't like the gay association, bringing the predictable cries for his ouster from gay advocates.
In retrospect, Yoshida might have chosen his words more carefully but it's hardly reason to fire him. The issue just isn't that important. It's a classic case of symbols over substance.
Foley, a former ACLU attorney, is a skilled lawyer who has always conducted himself with honor and integrity. He's free of the usual political connections, knows the difference between advocacy and judicial oversight and will make an excellent judge.
But anti-gay forces saw it as a slap in the face of voters who approved the marriage amendment and descended on the state Senate to block the nomination. Apparently it's OK for lawyers who represent contract killers, druggies and pimps to become judges, but God help the attorney who represents gays and liberals.
Fortunately, the Senate recognized that it wasn't a gay issue and quickly confirmed Foley on his merits. If senators had the courage to act as decisively in deep-sixing same-sex marriage when it first came up, we probably wouldn't need to keep having this conversation today.
Radical anti-homosexual groups see any policy that is in any way kind to gays as a slap at voters who approved the constitutional amendment. Gay advocates see any indifference to their cause as a violation of their civil rights. Neither is necessarily so.
While an overwhelming majority of voters saw state-sponsored same-sex marriage as a huge stretch legally and otherwise, we did not vote to stomp out homosexuality wherever it occurs.
We're a "live and let live" society in Hawaii and most of us want gays and lesbians accorded the same respect and decency as anybody else within the bounds of common sense. It's time to move on and stop letting radicals on either side of the gay political wars so easily hijack our public agenda.
David Shapiro is managing editor of the Star-Bulletin.
He can be reached by e-mail at dshapiro@starbulletin.com.
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