With gay marriage off the table in Hawai'i since its defeat in a 1998 election, supporters of contractual relationships for same-sex couples are hoping that calling them civil unions will ease their passage in this year's Legislature.

Bills before the House and Senate would afford same-sex couples the same rights and responsibilities as legally married couples without calling their relationship a marriage. Lawmakers say they plan to give the bills a hearing.

Proponents say it's about equal rights. Opponents say it's still eroding the tradition of marriage.

Kelly Rosati, executive director of the Hawai'i Family Forum, said she opposes civil unions because she feels that they codify same-sex marriages under a different title.

She said she would support amending state law to offer more benefits to same-sex couples as long as it "doesn't jeopardize the institution of marriage."

State Sen. Gary Hooser, who introduced one of the bills, said, "It's way past time we treat people equally under the law."

DIFFERENCES IN NAME

Hooser, D-7th (Kaua'i, Ni'ihau), said civil unions as proposed would be essentially the same as marriages. "I don't think there would be any differences except the name, and the name is important to a lot of people."

Akaloka Rivers and her partner, Victoria Snyder, want the same rights as married couples.

Rivers had two children with her ex-husband, who remains financially responsible for them.

Snyder, who made the decision to become a parent with her former same-sex partner, found her children had no legal rights under the law when her partner left. "She can't even fight for child support, even though they planned these children together," Rivers said.

After more than three years together, Rivers and Snyder consider themselves married, but their relationship is not recognized by the schools their children attend, nor would it be recognized by a hospital if one of the adults or one of their non-biological children needed medical care.

"It's the families who are getting the short end of the stick because we don't have the same rights," Rivers said.

To those who think civil unions jeopardize the sanctity of marriage, Rivers responds: "Me getting my rights in no way infringes on your heterosexual marriage."

To her, a contractual relationship is more than just a way to get a tax deduction. "We love each other and are making a lifelong commitment to each other," she said.

Sen. Clayton Hee, chairman of the Judiciary and Labor Committee, said he will hear the House version if it passes through that chamber, but he does not plan to hear the Senate version. In the past, the Senate has taken up the emotional and controversial issue only to have it die in the House, said Hee, D-23rd (Kane'ohe, Kahuku).

"Rather than have history repeat itself, we'll wait for a signal from the House," he said. "If the House kills it, there's no point in the Senate hearing it."

Rep. Tommy Waters, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said he is interested in hearing either the reciprocal beneficiary or the civil union bill. "We're going to get to it, but not yet," said Waters, D-51st (Lanikai, Waimanalo).

'POSITIVE CHANGE'

Rachel Orange, a progressive Democrat, said legalizing civil unions is a no-brainer. "To me, it's just a human rights thing."

Partners, regardless of sexual orientation, should be able to have rights when one is in the hospital. "I think my husband would know more what I want than even my parents," she said. "When someone is in the hospital and decisions have to be made, if it's a same-sex partner then they're left out of the process and I don't think that's fair."

While Orange and her husband would be unaffected by the civil union law, she said, "I'd benefit in knowing that our state is moving in the right direction. It would give me hope on other fronts that positive change can happen."

But while Orange is optimistic that civil unions are less divisive than same-sex marriages, Rosati of the Hawai'i Family Forum said that the issue would just divert attention from other issues lawmakers should be addressing.

As far as she is concerned, voters have already taken a stand on same-sex unions and expect lawmakers to focus on other things.

OTHER ISSUES COMPETE

In November 1998, Hawai'i voters approved by nearly 70 percent to 30 percent changing the state Constitution to give the Legislature the power to define marriage as exclusively between one man and one woman.

"We don't think (legalizing civil unions) is something people in the community are interested in doing," Rosati said. "There's an unprecedented crisis in homelessness and a lack of affordable housing and that's where the primary focus needs to be."

Waters, whose committee has been dealing with ethics and elections and is now moving on to crime legislation, agrees there are other priorities. "I am focusing on things that truly need our attention. Look what's happening on our roadways. We're having people die every day.

"There's just a whole slew of issues," he said.

However, he said it doesn't mean that there isn't time to deal with the rights of same-sex couples, as well.

"I'm interested in hearing one of the bills," he said.

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.