Ruling expected on gays in parade
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
A federal judge is expected to rule tomorrow whether the city should be required to allow three gay-rights groups to participate in Saturday's Family Day "Kid's Parade," which is sponsored by the Hawai'i Christian Coalition.
The coalition state chairman Garret Hashimoto said the parade would be canceled if the court ruled in favor of the three groups. He said nearly 5,000 people, including many children, are expected to take part in the event.
The American Civil Liberties Union last week filed a lawsuit on behalf of the groups against the city and the Christian Coalition, arguing that the city is a co-sponsor of the event and therefore cannot exclude groups from the parade. The organizations — Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays of O'ahu, The Center, and the Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender Family Network — say they were denied participation by the city and Christian Coalition because of their beliefs.
U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor heard more than two hours of arguments yesterday on a motion by the ACLU for a temporary restraining order. She asked both sides to provide more evidence before she rules tomorrow.
Yesterday, ACLU legal director Brent White argued that there was "overwhelming evidence" to prove that there was a joint-venture between the city and Christian Coalition to put on the parade and that taxpayers' money was spent. The event is part of the city's Family Day celebration, which is a series of Waikiki events set for Saturday,
White said that Alvin Au, deputy director of the city's Facility Maintenance Department, served as co-chairman of the parade committee, which White said consisted of 12 city employees and eight community members. White argued that the city's Web site directed people who wished to participate in the parade to call Au at his city office.
The committee, White said, set the rules for the parade, including who could participate. White said city employees were directed to take part in the planning and would be paid overtime if necessary.
In addition to the manpower, White said that the city offered trailers for parade floats. The city also produced fliers that said the city was a co-sponsor of the parade, but those fliers as well as the Web site were altered after the gay groups inquired about the event, White said.
"There's a mountain of evidence which shows the city has operated this event as if it were a joint-venture and provided thousands of taxpayers' dollars to this event, thousands of hours of city employee time to this event, and they simply don't do that for private parades," White said.
City Deputy Corporation Counsel Greg Swartz said the city is not a sponsor of the event and said employees have not been involved in selecting its participants. Swartz said the city offered "some support" because this is a first-time parade that was expected to draw hundreds of participants.
He said city officials wanted to be sure that the parade ran smoothly and participation does not mean sponsorship. Swartz argued that officials have worked with organizers of other parades, including the Gay Pride Parade.
"It's unfortunate that when we have major parades in the city and we try to assist so everything goes smoothly, that people object to that. When we have protests in the city against the war or against the Asian Development Bank, they want our assistance. So this is just another one of those cases," he said.
Hashimoto said after the hearing that the city played no part in the selection of the parade participants.
Correction: Garret Hashimoto's name was misspelled in a previous version of this story.
