WHEREAS: The First Unitarian Church of Honolulu covenants to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person as well as his or her right of conscience; and recognize and support the spectrum of not only sexualities but also genders.

WHEREAS: The First Unitarian Church of Honolulu (as well as other churches) offers congregational and ministerial support for services uniting couples in marriage without discrimination on the basis of gender, including and without prejudice against same gender couples; and

WHEREAS: the right of a couple (regardless of gender) to live in a state of marriage is a fundamental right of conscience deserving to be honored and celebrated for its profound spiritual and religious significance to the participants; and

We as a congregation support the rights of transgender individuals and recognize that we as a society are moving past the traditional binary gender paradigm.

In addition, we as a congregation support non-binary pronouns and are willing to engage in their use when requested.

WHEREAS: the right of this church to celebrate and participate in honoring such marriages, by authorizing its ministers to conduct, celebrate and officially witness such taking in marriage, is a fundamental religious right; and

WHEREAS: same-gender marriages currently go unrecognized by government, and are actively undermined by such disregard as well as by laws, restrictions and practices that, for example, deny property rights of married couples to same-gender couples, deny rights of mutual responsibility (such as family insurance rights, visitation rights or rights to make medical decisions for same-gender spouses, etc.), and many other rights necessary to sustain a family couple;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: that the congregation of The First Unitarian Church of Honolulu encourages the state of Hawaii to license and legally recognize marriages without discrimination on the basis of gender, including and without prejudice against same-gender marriages; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: that this congregation supports equal recognition and provision of laws, services, privileges, rights, etc. by cities, counties, and the United States Government due all marriages and married couples individuals, without discrimination on the basis of gender identification. This would include but not be limited to: use of public bathroom facilities, locker rooms and the issuance of identification with the gender stated that is in agreement with the individual’s preferred identity.

Passed: June 2, 1991  Reaffirmed: November 18, 2012    Edited and Proposed: November 6, 2017