City sued over
Family Day eventThe ACLU claims the festivities
promoted Christianity and
excluded other faiths
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed suit over the city's use of more than $15,000 in taxpayers' money to fund what it called a "city-sponsored church service" at Kapiolani Park on July 5.
CORRECTION
Wednesday, July 16, 2003>> Malcolm Tom is the city deputy managing director. A Page A3 article yesterday incorrectly gave his title as managing director.
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The ACLU alleged that the city violated the principle of separation of church and state by using the Family Day Festival to promote fundamentalist Christian religious beliefs and raise money for religious organizations associated with the Hawaii Christian Coalition, at the exclusion of other faiths and denominations.
In its suit filed suit yesterday in Circuit Court, the ACLU named Mayor Jeremy Harris and city Managing Director Malcolm Tom as defendants on behalf of several individual residents and taxpayers.
The complaint is separate from a federal lawsuit filed by the ACLU earlier this month on behalf of gay and lesbian rights groups that were not allowed to participate in a parade that was part of the Family Day festivities.
In a statement, Deputy Corporation Counsel Greg Swartz said the city believes it conducted the Family Day Festival "in an appropriate manner and that further litigation by the ACLU would be a waste of taxpayer moneys and the court's time and resources."
Hawaii Christian Coalition President Garret Hashimoto had not seen the suit, but said allegations that the city promoted the Family Day Festival to endorse Christian groups "is a stretch."
There were many different organizations participating in the Family Festival, including food vendors and crafters. "We don't ask them if they're Christians," he said. Even the group Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays of Oahu had a booth at the festival, he said.
He called the lawsuit "intimidation-type tactics, and it's sad it has to come to this."
While anyone could pay a fee to participate or become a sponsor of the Family Day Festival, the city did not allow equal access to all organizations to perform at what was essentially a "religious revival," said Brent White, ACLU legal director.
The vast majority of the programs and entertainment came from evangelical Christian churches, and no other religious viewpoints were represented, he said.
"We have no objection to the (Hawaii) Christian Coalition having a religious service or any other church having a religious service," White said. "However, religious services should not be funded by taxpayer dollars because it's a violation of one of our more cherished principles -- that is, the government must maintain neutrality in terms of religion and must neither promote one religion over other religions, or nonreligion over religion, or religion over nonreligion."
In the suit, the ACLU is asking that the city account for taxpayer resources spent for the event, including the use of city employees. The suit also asks that Harris and Tom compensate taxpayers for the money that was "misused."
Individuals or organizations who wanted to participate in the event were directed by the city's Web site to send checks to Christian Family Charities, which funds religious organizations in Hawaii and the mainland, White said.
Councilman Charles Djou, a critic of the city administration's spending policies, said that while he believes the ACLU is going "a little overboard" with its lawsuits, he is concerned that too often, "the (city) administration goes off on nice, fancy glamour projects" rather than focusing on core services such as public safety, fixing the sewer systems, illegal dumping and police radio deficiencies.
"This is another distraction from the city that time and resources could have been better spent on," Djou said.
