Okino apologizes for remarks condemning homosexuality

Former City Councilman Gary Okino issued an apology to gays, lesbians and their supporters on Saturday, and said it was "appropriate" for Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell to withdraw his nomination to the Ethics Board of Appeals after comments he made last week about homosexuals.

"The mayor’s action to withdraw my nomination was appropriate," Okino said in a statement. "In my overzealousness to respond to the allegations made against me by the testifiers (at) the committee meeting, I now realize that I may have unintentionally hurt the very people I was trying to help."

He added, "To my gay brothers and sisters and their supporters, I deeply apologize if my words were hurtful rather than helpful. That was not my intent. In my eagerness to express what we believe is right and what is wrong, I had forgotten that we truly do belong to a loving God, and that He also asks us to treat people with the love, reverence and dignity that they deserve."

At a City Council Executive Matters and Legal Affairs Committee meeting on Tuesday, Okino told members querying him that "I have no tolerance for homosexuality" and that gay people "are in danger not only spiritually, but physically."

Besides HIV, he said, "there is an outbreak now of anal, penile and throat cancers among the homosexual community."

A devout Catholic, the 71-year-old Okino told Council members that faith and divine law tell him "that same-sex marriage and homosexuality (are) not pono … it’s immoral, it’s deviant."

Okino’s nomination moved out of the Executive Matters Committee and was to be up for a final vote at Wednesday’s City Council meeting.

Before Caldwell withdrew his name, Okino was criticized for his statements by gay rights advocates, and later City Council members.

Members Ikaika Anderson and Stanley Chang, who did not attend Tuesday’s meeting, condemned Okino’s comments and said they would vote against his nomination on Wednesday. On Friday, they were joined by Councilman Joey Manahan.

Carolyn Golojuch, president of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays O‘ahu chapter, said she was not convinced by Okino’s apology.

Golojuch said the wording of the statement "didn’t sound like him" and came a day after he reiterated his intolerance of homosexuality to reporters and suggested he might appeal Caldwell’s decision.