HCH photo/Anna Weaver
Mostly in white, thousands of demonstrators for traditional marriage spill out of the state capitol rotunda into the area in front of the building at the Jan. 17 iVote rally.
Capitol rally mobilizes opposition to civil unions
Hawaii Catholic Herald
Thousands of white-wearing supporters of traditional marriage turned out in force at the Hawaii state capitol on Jan. 17 for the iVote Rally.
Sponsored by Hawaii Family Forum and the Hawaii Catholic Conference, the gathering was called “to uphold traditional family values; to promote social justice by eliminating hunger in Hawaii in 2010; [to] exercise civic responsibility by registering to vote and voting in 2010.”
According to Dennis Arakaki, executive director of Hawaii Catholic Conference and the Hawaii Family Forum, about 15,000 to 20,000 people attended, mostly from evangelical Christian and Catholic congregations. It was a much larger showing than a similar rally last year.
“I think it was a great visual demonstration,” he told the Hawaii Catholic Herald the day after the rally. “We have to thank God for that.”
The main target of the rally was HB444, the state House of Representatives bill that would allow homosexual civil unions in the state, and which is expected to come up for approval early in the legislation session.
“This issue has energized and awakened the Body of Christ,” Arakaki said. “It has unified them and mobilized them.”
But the real work will be what follows the rally, he said. “This is only the beginning.”
“Yesterday was a one-time moment. It was very impressive,” he said. “We are going to use it to the greatest extent possible.”
“The real effectiveness will be people going down to the capitol, sitting in on sessions, visiting the legislative offices, or calling or e-mailing. That’s going to make the real difference,” Arakaki said.
And there are a lot of other issues that need addressing, he said.
Among those is hunger. Organizers collected canned goods on a flat bed truck to send to Hawaii Food Bank.
Rally attendees filled out voter registration cards at tables around the capitol. Besides wearing white, attendees received large, red iVote stickers and those that registered to vote received tattoo “sleeves.”