Inaugural Hawai‘i State LGBTQ+ Commission Provides Education about Constitutional Amendment One

Posted on Nov 1, 2024 in Featured, Main, NEWS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 1, 2024

Inaugural Hawai‘i State LGBTQ+ Commission Provides Education about Constitutional Amendment One

HONOLULU – The Hawai‘i State Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer Plus (LGBTQ+) Commission has unanimously endorsed Constitutional Amendment Number One that will appear on the 2024 General Election ballot. Aside from setting up the governance of the commission, making the endorsement was the commission’s first official act, during its inaugural meeting on July 31, 2024.

The Hawai‘i State LGBTQ+ Commission is made up of the following voting members:

  • Chair, Kathleen O’Dell Ph.D. (she/her) – representing the City and County of Honolulu
  • Vice Chair, Michael Golojuch Jr. (he/him) – representing the City and County of Honolulu
  • Secretary (temporary), Joe Tolbe (he/him) – representing Maui County
  • Finance Director, Shanda Brack (she/her) – representing the Department of Health Hawai‘i Sexual and Gender Minority working group
  • Member-at-Large, Sandy Harjo-Livingston Ph.D. (he/him/they/them) – representing the City and County of Honolulu
  • Member-at-Large, Philip Steinbacher (he/him) – representing Kaua‘i County
  • Member-at-Large, Joseph “Rocco” Vick (he/him) – representing Hawai‘i County
  • Member-at-Large, Richard Velasquez (he/him) – representing the City and County of Honolulu

They were sworn in on June 28, 2024, (the 55th Anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising) by Lt. Governor Sylvia Luke.

The commission encourages everyone to participate in the electoral process.

Constitutional Amendment No. 1 will ask voters if they want to repeal Section 23 to Article 1 of the Hawai‘i State Constitution in its entirety. The language that will appear on the ballot is:

“Shall the state constitution be amended to repeal the legislature’s authority to reserve marriage to opposite—sex couples?”

A YES vote supports the deletion of Section 23 from Article 1 of the Hawai‘i State Constitution.

Essentially a  NO vote or a BLANK vote does not support the deletion of Section 23. Click here for more details about a BLANK vote.

There needs to be a majority of YES votes of ALL ballots cast in the state of Hawai‘i’s 2024 General Election for Constitutional Amendment No. 1 to pass.

“Now is the time to remove discrimination from the state’s Constitution” says Commission Chair Kathleen O’Dell Ph.D. “By deleting Section 23 from the state’s Bill of Rights it will right the wrong of the past and bring Aloha back to our state’s Constitution.”

All registered voters should have received their ballots by October 18, 2024. For the ballots to be counted they must be received by the voter’s County Elections Office no later than 7:00 p.m. on November 5, 2024.

Register voters can sign up for the ballot tracking offered by the state at https://hawaii.ballottrax.net/voter/. Voters that sign-up will get either an email or text or both, depending on what the voter selected, when their ballot has been mailed out and then again when it has been received and is ready to be counted.

Voter Service Centers operated by the counties’ election offices  provide accessible in-person voting, same-day voter registration, and collection of voted ballots. Each center opened on October 22, 2024 and will remain open through November 5, 2024 excluding Sundays. Locations and hours are posted here: https://elections.hawaii.gov/voter-service-centers-and-places-of-deposit/

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Commission Contact:
Chair, Kathleen O’Dell Ph.D.(she/her)
Phone: 330-573-8733
[email protected]
https://humanservices.hawaii.gov/lgbtq-commission/

For Media Inquiries Only:
Amanda Stevens
Public Information Officer
Department of Human Services
[email protected]