It’s a good time to seek marriage justice

The words of justice by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" — was quoted by President Barack Obama in his proclamation of June as National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month.

This proclamation comes at a very important moment in history as the U.S. Supreme Court considers a decision on justice for one of the discriminated populations in our country.

This year alone, we saw the number of states that recognize marriage justice double. Justice now exists in Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. Sadly, Hawaii is still waiting for justice, even though our state started this journey more than two decades ago. We continue to stand up, stand out and stand proud for justice in our state until justice comes our way.

We also saw 15 nations adopt marriage justice: the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Norway, Sweden, Argentina, Portugal, Iceland, Denmark, Uruguay, New Zealand, Brazil and France. Missing is the United States, but education on justice is an ongoing process.

These 12 states and 15 nations are a reason to celebrate justice. Honolulu followed Obama’s proclama- tion on June 1 with the recent 2013 Honolulu LGBTIQA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Queer/ Questioning and Allied) Pride and Celebration. And celebrate we did.

For the first time for the Honolulu Pride Parade and Celebration, a Honolulu mayor was one of the grand marshalls, walking the parade route and speaking at the celebration; the United Public Workers union also marched. These firsts are a sign of the changes that are happening all over the world. People are accepting all of our children because they are human beings deserving social justice.

In addition to Mayor Kirk Caldwell, other grand marshalls who were cheered were Sandy Farmer-Wiley and Jean Walker, the biracial couple of 36 years who dedicated their commitment for each other and the progress toward justice; Freddie Jordon of Odyssey Magazine, who has supported our community for 19 years; and the group Trans-Spectrum, which welcomes transgender and non-conforming gender and their families, friends and allies to its support-group meetings, which makes our community stronger. We are family. We prove justice will survive.

Here in Hawaii, we have legal protections in the workplace against violence with the Hate Crimes Act, and we have some of the rights of marriage. But since the 1990s, we have seen our state continue to punish our gay children. The crystal-clear example of that was the 2013 legislative session, when elected officials ignored the justice needed to move forward. This we cannot celebrate.

Now, though, with a U.S. president standing up for civil rights for our LGBTIQA children, we can see the rainbow bright and beautiful. We have a responsibility to see that civil rights and social justice continue in our families and our communities so the ripple effect extends it far beyond our reach. We need to do it so that all parents love and honor their children.

The time for justice is always now.