TURNING OVER AND OVER

TURNING OVER AND OVER: It’s hard to say it wasn’t with a degree of weary glee that we watched some of the finally-beaten-down, bible-thumping wackos try one last time to stick their noses into the crotches of same gender couples as the civil unions bill passed out of one final committee hearing.

But the fact that it took years to beat back a handful of church-zombies showed, if nothing else, the vapid nature of most of the legislators in Hawai`i who needed to be shown at the actual voting polls what the telephone polls showed all along.

The thing is that this time the only argument the religion-addled had left was one that they were actually right about- this separate but equal half-measure is ultimately insulting and shameful to everyone in the state and many won’t rest until same gender marriage is the law of the land.

Although we can’t imagine why anyone would want the state to get involved in their relationships, as a civil rights issue it’s well past time for full marriage rights for those that are into that kind of kinky paperwork.

But now that these busybodies have way too much time on their hands again we’re about to go through the whole thing, with the same cast, all over again on the Death With Dignity Bill (SB 803) which was “held” after a hearing Monday, reportedly effectively killing it once again this year.

The bill says it:

Allows a terminally ill, competent adult to receive medication to end life. Prohibits mercy killings, lethal injections, and active euthanasia. Requires informed consent. Allows alternate doctor to replace attending doctor if latter declines to prescribe. Provides immunity from civil and criminal liability for acts taken in good faith. Imposes penalties for unauthorized altering, forging, concealing, destroying, or exerting undue influence in making or rescinding a request for medication. Requires monitor at time of taking dose.

Many of the same entrenched gutless wonders- who didn’t trust, much less know, their own constituency and quaked in their boots at the thought of losing their precious legislative seats if they did the right thing on civil unions- are back allowing the same religious crazies hijack the bill that would allow terminal patients with less than six months to live to avoid the pain and suffering of a prolonged dying process- should they freely chose to do so.

It’s essentially the same issue as civil unions- one of civil rights. The question in both cases is who owns our bodies- us or the god squad.

The problem here is obvious. While it took years, it was an effort to put a human face on the civil unions issue with happy smiling families coming out, so to speak, that made the hate-mongering of the opponents not just apparent but unsettling enough to cause people to vote out the vile opponents in the last election.

But who is to speak for the dead and dying? A corpse who was forced to suffer needlessly tells no tales. And if it did it wouldn’t be as pretty a picture as young, healthy, same gender couples many with children in tow, simply asking for the same future as everyone else.