City hit with another lawsuit over Family Day
By David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer
For the second time in a little more than two weeks, the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai'i has filed a lawsuit against Honolulu city officials, this time saying the city sponsored what was essentially a Christian religious service in the form of Family Day at Kapi'olani Park on July 5.
Brent White, ACLU legal director, said yesterday that city sponsorship of the event violated portions of the First Amendment requiring separation of church and state.
The ACLU says the city improperly used at least $15,000 of taxpayers' money to organize and help conduct the Family Day Festival.
The city issued a one-paragraph response late yesterday afternoon from Deputy Corporation Counsel Greg Swartz saying the city "believes that it conducted the Family Day Festival in an appropriate manner and that further litigation by the ACLU" would be a waste of taxpayer money and the court's time and resources.
The ACLU sued in federal court on June 27, saying the city helped to organize an event called the Kids Parade in conjunction with Family Day and that the parade's sponsor, the Hawaii Christian Coalition, would not allow gay and lesbian groups to participate in the parade.
U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor did not grant a court order on July 3 that would have required the city and the coalition to allow the gay and lesbian groups to participate. Gillmor concluded that the Christian Coalition and not the city was sponsoring the parade.
White, however, says that the city's involvement in putting the parade together was much more substantial than city officials will admit.
The Kids Parade ended at Kapi'olani Park in Waikiki at the Family Day festival, which the ACLU says in a lawsuit filed yesterday in Circuit Court was an evangelical religious event that featured only the Christian religion.
The lawsuit asks for a full accounting of public money used to help stage the event, that Mayor Jeremy Harris and city Deputy Managing Director Malcolm Tom be made to reimburse the city and that the court order the city not to organize or help conduct what are essentially religious events in the future.
White said the ACLU does not object in any way to the free practice of religion by Hawai'i residents, but does object to "church services being funded by taxpayer dollars.
"We strongly believe in freedom of religion but that it is improper for the city to be aligning itself with one particular branch of religion," White said.
The ACLU filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Rev. Vaughn Beckman, senior minister of the First Christian Church; Holly Huber, a small-business owner; Rupert Teves, a city and county employee; Juliet Begley secretary of the Martin Luther King Jr. Coalition; and Michael Golojuch Jr., of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays-O'ahu.
"I am deeply concerned that the city of Honolulu and the Hawaii Christian Coalition violated the principle of separation of church and state by using Family Day to promote the fundamentalist religious beliefs of one segment of our society to the exclusion of all others," Beckman said.
White said that while festival booths at the park were open to any group that was willing to pay a required fee, only select groups were chosen to perform at the event.
The city reserved most of the entertainment and programming opportunities at Family Day for evangelical Christian churches and no other religious viewpoints were represented at Family Day, White said.
Golojuch said the gay and lesbian support group he represents purchased a booth at Family Day and were instructed to make the check out to Christian Family Charities.
White said that forms taken off the city's Web site instructed groups that wanted to set up booths at Family Day to make their checks or money orders payable to Christian Family Charities.
Reach David Waite at 525-8030 or dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com.
