New law owes much to pioneers

There are many to thank for Hawaii legalizing same-sex marriage, but I believe it is appropriate to look back to the beginning and acknowledge the hard work and foresight of the three extremely skilled attorneys: Kirk Cashmere (deceased), Daniel Foley and Evan Wolfson, who on a pro bono basis successfully litigated the very first same-sex marriage case ever.

Similar to the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York which are credited with the birth of the modern gay rights movement, the 1991 Hawaii case of Baehr v. Lewin is now credited with the start of equal marriage rights.

Reciprocal beneficiaries in Hawaii gave members of the LGBT community the right to sit at the back of the bus. Civil unions next let people move up a few rows. Finally today, 22 years later, people have the right to sit wherever they choose.

Hawaii has every right to be proud of its history and its latest achievement in this struggle for civil rights.

David S. Brustein
Portlock

Majority ruled by minority groups

If majority-rule existed, debates on all subjects and situations would be mute, saving billions of taxpayer money.

Instead, politicians we elected to keep this country safe and secure have allowed thousands of minority groups to terrorize the majority with their private agendas.

If this were the ’40s, I would be 100 percent against same-sex marriages.

Sadly, we live in a different world where elected officials have allowed discipline, regimentation and moral values to go down the toilet.

Is the sanctity of traditional marriages still sacred?

I don’t think so.

Lawrence Makishima
Pearl City

Gay marriage is an oxymoron

It matters not how the elitist Legislature and corrupt governor wish to define marriage.

Homosexual marriage does not exist and will never exist. It is an oxymoron and believers of thefaith don’t need a lesson by confused politicians, pompous judges, wayward civil rights organizations or the liberal news media.

Vote your conscience, Hawaii, and throw the bums out.

Robert Espinosa
Kapolei

Clean up graffiti quick as possible

Following up on Amy McKenna’s letter ("Graffiti, litter on Oahu are out of control," Star-Advertiser, Nov. 10), I have been painting over graffiti and taggings for years.

In my neighborhood I paint out graffiti within 24 hours, if I can.

The quicker it is cleaned up, the more of a deterrent it is to the young boys, I would think between the ages of 7 and 14.

These boys are cowards (tagging graffiti under darkness), babies (since they do not know what is right or wrong) and selfish (they do not care about locals and tourists who see graffiti as degrading and something that does not belong in beautiful Hawaii).

If every neighborhood would be more aggressive in cleaning up graffiti, Hawaii would be a more visually pleasant place to live.

Toby Allen
Kaimuki

Fire person who OK’d CGI deal

Regarding the Hawaii Health Connector contract with CGI and who authorized it: Who is it and why?

Find out who this person is and let him or her leave the state job. This person hired the same contractor to "modernize" the Hawaii Department of Taxation’s collection system.

I can’t see how we can afford paying $87.5 million from 1999 to 2011 and the state is preparing to spend another $32 million to redo the system. It’s insane.

Patrick Carvalho
McCully

Health care laws work in Europe

It was interesting to me that during the health care debate in Congress, there was no mention of countries that have had health care laws for many years that work. We seem to live in a vacuum.

I have been to Europe over the years where I paid a VAT (value added tax) of 4 percent. This paid for health care. It is like our excise tax.

When I was in Iceland this year, the VAT tax was 25 percent. Everyone I talked to was very happy with this. No one pays anything when they’re ill.

Harry Russell
Ala Moana