Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle Informs Gay Rights Activists They're Second-Class Citizens

[Joanne98]

"why is it that the people who came to the Capitol building in support of the gay community and HB444 were required to obtain a Special Use Permit and proof of liability insurance in order to participate in a rally, but the pastors, church members, and those rallying against the civil rights legislation were not similarly required to obtain the necessary permits? And, why is it that certain people were invited to a special prayer meeting inside the Governor’s office, but others were excluded?" - Hawaii activist Carroll Cox
As she announced her veto of Hawaii's Civil Unions Bill HB444 on July 6th, Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle echoed a standard argument traditionally advanced by leaders of the Christian right, that the issue of the civil rights of minority groups was so important that it should not be decided by an executive decision but, rather, by popular vote. It was a strange argument for a Jewish politician given the use of the democratic legislative process in pre-World War Two Germany to strip German-Jewish citizens of basic rights. But it also was the height of hypocrisy because that day, prior to announcing her veto, Lingle had sent a clear message of her executive decision: supporters of the civil union bill gathered at the Hawaii State House that day were second class citizens and Lingle was more than happy to use the power of the state to enforce the point.

The next day, Lingle appeared on a local Hawaii AM radio talk show and compared same-sex marriage to incest, displaying startling ignorance of the fact, as a listener who called in to the show pointed out, that first-cousin marriages are legal in the Aloha State. The gaffe caught some media attention but what Carroll Cox reports is more appalling by several magnitudes.
Hawaiian political and environmental activist, and radio talk show host Carroll Cox, an African-American man who grew up in the deep South, in Mississippi, during Segregation and spent his career working as a federal agent, is not easily flustered. But when he called me up late last week to describe Linda Lingle's blatantly discriminatory favoritism, I could tell Cox was quietly outraged which is not surprising - what he described was patently outrageous.

A story on Cox's web site (you can also listen to Carroll Cox's description, in this one-hour segment of his radio show) substantiated by audio recording and pictures Cox took during the event, details Lingle's blatant prejudice against the pro-Civil Union protesters that could only have been on uglier display had she ordered her Sheriff's Department to drive them back with fire hoses and police dogs.
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2010/7/15/172058/823/Front_Page/Hawaii_Governor_Linda_Lingle_Informs_Gay_Rights_Activists_They_re_Second_Class_Citizens