Even though the majority of testimony sent to Hawaii lawmakers debating same-sex marriage was in support of the legislation, the majority of the thousands of people who came to the Hawaii State House to testify was not. Religious groups, possibly with the aid of NOM, the National Organization For Marriage, bussed people into Honolulu. Many of those who spoke read testimony they clearly had not written. And it was very, very ugly.
That’s what you probably would expect from some average citizens, many of whom might not be very well-educated, many of whom might not ever have gotten to know someone who is LGBT.
But raw, ugly, hate speech and anti-gay rhetoric is not the type of language one would expect — hopefully — from an elected representative of the people.
Meet Democratic (yes, Democratic) Representative Rep. Karen Awana, who says she has “friends who are of the GLBT persuasion,” and who spent 12 minutes spewing anti-gay language and mistruths to defend her vote against Hawaii’s same-sex marriage bill.
Rep. Awana stood on the floor of the Hawaii State House late Friday night, just as members were making their final remarks — just before the same-sex marriage bill passed — and spewed utter filth.
Claiming that “civil unions and reciprocal benefits was [sic] the ‘great compromise’ just a few years ago in 2011,” Awana told her colleagues, “we were told that if we provide these options to the GLBT community, they would be satisfied. Have the people of Hawai’i not done enough? We gave you your civil unions. We gave you your reciprocal benefits.”
(Actually, Rep. Awana voted against that bill.)
“We don’t have signs that say, ‘straight people only.’ We don’t have signs that say, ‘GLBT people to the back of the bus.’ And we don’t have separate water fountains for GLBT individuals. Have we not already shared our Aloha spirit with you?”
Apparently, to Rep. Awana, not being specifically treated like an African-American in the 1950’s is “enough” equality.
Perhaps Rep. Awana would like her fellow Hawaiian citizens to vote on her right to marry? Perhaps they can also vote on her right to vote? (Perhaps they can look into all the fines she’s had to pay for election practice violations and false reporting?)
Awana went on to explain same-sex marriage — which has yet to be enacted in Hawaii — is already responsible for a “culturally responsive teen pregnancy and STI prevention program.” Awana said that the Hawaii Department of Education is “already implementing the programs to indoctrinate our children into believing that homosexual relations are normal and healthy, and heterosexual relationships are abnormal and unhealthy.”
(Of course, that’s not accurate, and a fellow Representative already had debunked that lie.)
Awana claimed that the Hawaii Department of Education is teaching that homosexual sex may be “better” than heterosexual sex “because you don’t have to worry about getting pregnant!”
But that wasn’t enough for Rep. Awana, who started the reading of a doctoral student’s paper in the middle of her testimony.
She then went on to complain that if same-sex couples are allowed the right to marry, the state “will bestow on couples certain benefits, which are costly to the state and other individuals.”
Nevermind that LGBT people have been subsidizing the relationships of heterosexual couples for centuries — apparently they haven’t paid enough yet.
Awana kept up her anti-LGBT attack.
Children need a mother and a father she complained — pointing to no valid study.
But Representative Awana wants you to know that she is “appalled” by the governor’s special session, and by the “dreadful language” — not in her speech, mind you but — in the bill.
Fortunately, Rep. Awana says to the “GLBT community” that she will “work tirelessly” and “commit the resources” of her office “to find a solution.”
Awana said she is worried that if the same-sex marriage bill were to pass, she would “feel like a stranger” in her “own homeland.”
No doubt, many would be happy to find her an alternative one.
Watch:
//www.youtube.com/embed/7H1zrOPhne0