COURTESY OF RON RINALDI AND BILL SCHUYLER
Ron Rinaldi, left, and Bill Schuyler, of Kailua-Kona, wed Saturday in Vancouver, B.C., becoming the first same-sex couple from Hawaii to tie the knot in Canada.
2 Kailua-Kona men
marry in VancouverThe 28-year partners
take quick advantage
of new Canadian laws
Ron Rinaldi and Bill Schuyler, of the Big Island, say they weren't trying to become the poster boys for same-sex marriage when they became the first Hawaii couple to legally wed in Canada on Saturday.
CORRECTION
Friday, July 25, 2003>> BCTV in British Columbia aired the wedding of a gay Hawaii couple in an edited news report on Saturday. A Tuesday article incorrectly reported that it aired live.
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin strives to make its news report fair and accurate. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, call Editor Frank Bridgewater at 529-4791 or email him at fbridgewater@starbulletin.com.
"It's not so much about the legal aspect," said Rinaldi, 63, upon his arrival home yesterday afternoon. "We've been together so long and we love one another. We just wanted to do it."
The Kailua-Kona men were married by a judge in the courtyard and garden of the home of friend Shar Levine.
"They've been together 28 years. If that's not commitment, then what is?" said Levine. "They are lovely, warm gentlemen who care deeply about each other."
Levine said that Canada, particularly British Columbia, is gay-friendly.
The two men, both interior designers, were warmly welcomed by the people of Vancouver after being the subjects of interviews by the Vancouver Sun, BC-TV and Canadian TV, said Levine.
BC-TV aired their wedding live, though their ceremony was not the first gay wedding in the province.
"Everyone was absolutely wonderful to us," Rinaldi said. As the wedding party entered the restaurant for the reception, a man who saw the wedding on TV gave them complimentary tickets to Cirque du Soleil, the hottest tickets in town. The florist provided a bouquet as a gift, and a winery gave them a discount on the champagne.
They were visiting Vancouver in June when a court in Ontario ruled that gays could be married in that province, and Levine joked that they should return to get married once gay marriages were allowed in British Columbia. The couple made wedding and travel arrangements as soon as they learned that a British Columbia court decided in favor of same-sex marriages on July 8.
Skip Burns, of Hawaii's Civil Rights-Civil Unions Movement, told the Vancouver Sun that Schuyler and Rinaldi are the first gay couple from Hawaii to be wed in Canada since it was legalized.
Hawaii has grappled with same-sex marriage issue since the state Health Department denied marriage licenses in 1990 to three same-sex couples. In 1991 the couples sued, and years of political and legal battles ensued. In 1993 the state Supreme Court found that same-sex couples have a right to marry unless the state can provide a compelling reason to ban such unions.
In 1996 a circuit judge ruled the state failed to show a compelling reason and ordered it to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The state appealed, and the state high court overturned the lower court's ruling in 1999.
In 1998, 69 percent of voters said yes to amend the Constitution, giving the Legislature the power to reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples.
"I felt it was discriminatory at that point," Schuyler said. "It's a matter of equal rights."
Schuyler, 55, said they told Canadians: "We thought it was going to happen in Hawaii. You beat us to the punch, and that's why we're here."
Rinaldi said he does not know whether marriage benefits will be extended to them in Hawaii.
"The fact that it is the same marriage certificate and we were married by an official of the government, we thought it would be more weight than a civil union (extended in Vermont)," he said. "We hope it will be recognized (in Hawaii)."
Martin Rice, legislative chairman for the Civil Unions-Civil Rights Movement in Hawaii, said it was unclear if the marriage would be accepted as a legal union in Hawaii.
"Because this is such a dramatic step, there's no precedence," Rice said. "Since this is a states-rights issue, it would be up to the individual states to recognize any same-sex marriages that took place in Canada."
Eight friends from the Big Island flew to Vancouver to attend the last-minute wedding.
"We joked, 'Is it a shotgun wedding?'" Levine said.
Rinaldi is originally from Rhode Island, and Schuyler is from Maryland. Both came to Hawaii in 1964 to attend the University of Hawaii, but they did not meet until 1975 in Honolulu.
The two share an interior design business in Kailua-Kona called Ambience by Design.
The couple plans to take a Baltic cruise for their honeymoon.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
