Letter to the Editor: An ad in this week’s Hawaii Catholic Herald implies that a homosexual individual can successfully serve God only by pairing up, if at all, with a member of the opposite sex. If the ad had instead been based on a person’s skin color, race, or ethnicity, we earnestly doubt that the Herald would have published it. The actual ad’s unspoken assumption seems to be that homosexuals are nature’s mistakes rather than valued elements of God’s plan. A resulting message is that homosexuals should not be treated like everyone else. This is unsettling and hurtful to those of us who have been blessed with a homosexual brother, sister, son, daughter, or other loved one. The ad further implies that the sacrament of marriage would be harmed if the State of Hawaii were to allow two homosexuals to enter into a civil union. We fail to see how someone else’s civil union could adversely impact our marriages. If two homosexuals want to make a legally binding, life-long commitment to each other, what is the harm in allowing it? Religious organizations could continue to treat such relationships as inferior if they wanted to do so. By what authority does any religion insist that the government do the same? Of course, Jesus never addressed the subject of civil unions. And people who have seen the booklet entitled, “What Jesus Said About Homosexuality,” know that all the pages are blank. We think homosexuals deserve to be told that they are no less worthy of love, acceptance, and appreciation than are their heterosexual brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews, and cousins. The ad in question sends a very different message. Respectfully,
Susie & Randy Roth
Norma & Walter Heen
Vicky & Ben Cayetano

Commission on Sexual Orientation and the Law in Hawaii Report (1995)