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2o — OUT IN THE MOUNTAINS — MAY 1999

Gabbard: The Man Behind the Mailings

continued from page seven

University. He first-.moved to
Hawai‘i in 1977 as a tennis profes-
sional, then returned to Samoa.
Moving back to Hawai‘i in 1983,
he worked as headmaster of a pri-
vate K-I2 school and later as
owner of a vegetarian restaurant,
the Natural Deli.

It was in this latter position that
Gabbard broke through to the pub-
lic’s consciousness.

In January I992, gay-rights
activists started a minor media
furor by picketing the Natural
Deli. ‘Gabbard had attracted the
wrath ofgay-rights advocates with
a radio program, “Let’s Talk
Straight, Hawai‘i,” launched in
November I99]. After telling a
caller on-air that he would, all else
being equal, prefer a heterosexual
applicant over a gay or lesbian
worker, members of the Gay and
Lesbian Education and Advocacy
Foundation began handing out
leaflets outside the deli, decrying
Gabbard’s “potential for discrimi-
nation.”

Gabbard. on his part, says the
discrimination charge was “bla-
tantly untrue" — that the deli ‘did
not inquire about sexual orienta-
tion inhiring, while the protests
interfered with his right to free
speech.

1, For the next two weeks, march-
es were held day and night in front
 the deli, pressuring Gabbard to
cease his radio program. Gabbard
glaims he was threatened with
bodily harm and customers were

OP-ED 9 ,
continued frorirpage 4

even visited them. Furthermore,
our archives would motivate
members of our community to
work harder to achieve our polit-
ical and cultural goals. because
they will be shown proofthat our
community has a history that
they can be apart of.

Finally. an archive makes our
own beauty more accessible to
us. We can Lise our own historical
materials to create wor_ks of art. I
saw proof of that hanging on the
wall of a banquet hall on the
.night of Marcli 37. I999.

The RUIZ‘? Community
Archives Project would be an
integral part of the Community
Center we are working towards
assembling in Burlington.
Nothing showed me more elo-
quently that such a project is
essential to each of us than the
bits of crumbling newsprint I
brushed onto my pants after han-
dling some of the documents
we’d made copies of to mount
for the Archives Installation.

In another 20 years, a lot of
this stuff won’t even exist for us
to make copies of. Mould and
water and thepress of time make

the revolutionary works of gen-_

erations into stuffthat makes you

sneeze. Oh, yes, in-thelong tenn _

memories die as civilizations die,
but it is your choice: you, hold-
ing this paper that will soon be
dust, can choose to help preserve
your pride and passions into his-
tory. This preservation requires
will, imagination, bricks and
bank accounts. RUIZ? One of
the people whose struggles will
be remembered?V

harassed. By February, with his
livelihood “going down the drain,”
he says, Gabbard closed the deli.
Gabbard maintains he has con-
tinued working as ,a small busi-
nessman, but he declined to give
the Weekly the source of his liveli-
hood. “How do I survive?  For
obvious reasons, I won’t give you
any specifics, because if word gets
out, homosexual activists will sim-
ply target me once again,” he says.

Krishna and Dogma

Though he has been misrepre-
sented as a Christian activist,
Gabbard is a devotee ofthe Hindu
god Krishna and a student oflagad
Guru (“teacher of the world”)
Chris Butler.

Butler, once a disciple of Srila
Bhaktivedanta Swami, leader of
the Krishna movement in Hawai‘i,
broke away in the early 1970s to
lead an independent group called
Honolulu Mantra Meditation
Hawai‘i.

On homosexuality, Butler
evokes the Bhagavad-Gita, which
states that marriage is for procre-
ation and thus between only a man
and woman. Gabbard follows that
scripture, too, as well as similar
passages in the Bible.

“Homosexual marriage
activists simply cannot produce
any scriptural evidence that sup-
ports their cause,” Gabbard
charges. He views those who
choose a homosexual lifestyle as
embracing a “false identity,” one
that gives into base desires rather
than suppresses them. Similar
desires, Gabbard says, lead to het-
erosexuals cheating on their
lovers, or to the consumption of
meat, which Hindus abhor.

"The reality is we are not our
desireS."'says Gabbard. “Our true
nature is spiritual, and controlling
our desires is what makes us
human beings and sets us apart
from animals.“ ’

Gabbard further argues there is
no conclusive evidence that “so-
called sexual orientation“ is genet-
ic: therefore. he holds. homosexu-
ulit_\ is unacceptable. .

Nonsense. say medical profes-
sionaIs.“lloniosexuality is as nat-
ural as anything else." says Miltoii
l)izunond. 21 professor at the
University of llaw'.ii‘i‘s .lohii A.
Burns School of Medicine and a
well-kiiowii expert on sexual
development. "We‘re talking about
a wide spectrum where there are
all sorts of ranges in terms of
human sexuality." the professor
says.

Gabbard sees no range. In an
unsolicited inissive to the Weekly
he states: “Nature tells us that it’s

_not a good idea to be inserting

penises (or other foreign objects)
into the anus/rectum because these
excretory organs are designed
specifically for eliminating things,
not putting things into them.”

He continues, “Putting aside
AIDS for the moment, public
health stats reveal diseases like
gonorrhea, syphilis, hepatitis A and
B, cytomegalovirus,‘ amoebic
bowel disease and herpes occur at
much higher rates in homosexuals
than in the general population.
Unfortunately, when out of genuine
concern and compassion for others,
we bring these facts up and say that
anal sex is unnatural, unhealthy
behavior that should be discour-
aged in society, homosexual
activists and their supporters point
their fingers at us, venomously say-
ing, ‘Hatemonger, homophobe!”-’

Diamond, in contrast, sees
nothing “unnatural” about varying
sexual practices. “The same neural
endings in your genitals are the
same as those in, the anus, and this
can be erogenous,” he explains.
“So can a person’s shoulders, or
ears, or wherever. Gabbard is mis-
informed and unschooled.”

Gabbard remains skeptical.
“Only the press, and a few
researchers, primarily homosexual
activists, falsely claim in sound
bites that they’ve found the ‘gay
gene,’” he says.

Godly Government ‘

Gabbard first became active in
local politics with his support of
former Maui state Sen. Reed. Reed
often made headlines — as when
he said in 1985 he supported con-
centration camps for HIV-positive
patients. Reed also once intro-
duced a bill to prohibit school-
teachers from teaching alternative
sexual lifestyles.‘

Additionally, Reed was linked
to a Chris Butler-influenced group
called Independents for Godly
Government, a short-lived politi-
cal party that actually fielded a
few candidates in the late 1970s.

Like Reed, who left Hawai‘i in
the early 1990s, Gabbard feels
religion should not be entirely
ignored by government.

“The problem l’ve seen when
[separation of church and state] is
brought up is that many times peo-
ple who have deeply held religious
and moral beliefs are treated like
second-class citizens,” he adds.
“That somehow, their point of
view is not legitimate or bona fide.

The fact is, on public policy

issues, all ideas should be brought
to the table and welcomed during
discussions and debates.”

And if those who espouse gay
rights are "silenced or disempow-
crcd during this process‘? Gabbard
sees this as checks and balances in
action.

“When the governor or legisla-
tors make bad decisions. we can
vote them out of office the next
election." he says. "When judges
inake bad decisions  the only
recourse voters have is to amend
the Constitution."

This. of course. raises the issue
of civil rights ~ rights that are
protected regardless of mass senti-
meiit.

"What Gabbard fails to remem-
ber is that our country has been
engaged in a long battle to bring"
the United States to a place and a
time where diversity and tolerance
are tluid, not only in principle but
in practice,” comments Vanessa
Chong. executive director of the
American Civil Liberties.-Union,
Hawai‘i chapter. “Gabbard wants
government to prefer a religious
viewpoint, but that’s’ prohibited by
the First Amendment. - 

“Gabbard would‘ like _ church,
and state to fuse together asone,”
Chong holds. “Th_at’s' dangerous

and divisive, and. that’s'_why the’?

government must remain neutral.
A majority should not be able -to‘

push around a-poor, pow‘e"rless\'or‘ ‘

unpopular minority.” '

Traditional Alliances
The Alliance for Traditional

Marriage-Hawai‘i was formed._in_

July 1996 as a political action
committee. An organization with-
out members, but with supporters
from all islands, ATM bills itself
as a “nonsectarian, multireligious
and multi-ethnic group” dedicated.
to the goal of preserving and pro-

tecting traditional marriage.

Gabbard formed the PAC, he
says, out of frustration in dealing
with politicians who seemed unre-
sponsive to concerns about same-
sex marriage. Were the state to
openly accept homosexual rela-
tionships, says Gabbard, a
“Pandora’s Box” could be opened.

“Once the state gives approval
to that idea or world view, all sex-
ual desires would have to be rec-
ognized and approved, not dis-
criminated against,” he says. “This
would undercut the entire concept
of morality, which is the basis for
civilization.”

Though founder and chairman,
Gabbard says that he is neither
paid .nor supported by ATM,
though he does “call the shots.”

Indeed, he implements ATM’s
agenda. Gabbard and his supporters
were instrumental in targeting key
legislators seen as gay-friendly.

“It was at this time that
Gabbard really came onto the
scene,” says Honolulu attorney
Dan Foley, who represents three
same-sex couples who first filed
for marriage rights in 1991. “He
pinpointed certain election dis-
tricts with mass mailings, because
these people opposed his views on
gays.”

Foley believes the ’96 election
was a turning point, not only for
the same-sex marriage issue but
Gabbard’s public profile.

Gabbard’s successful targeting
certainly drew the attention of
state politicians.

“He’s dogmatic, hardworking
and methodical in his approach,”
comments state Senator Matt
Matsunaga. ‘-‘He represents a seg-
ment ofthe population that is fear-
ful of something they just don’t
know, afraid if gays had similar
rights as nongays. His point of
view — that homosexuality is
provably wrong — well, if you
believe that, then everything [he
does] follows logically.”

Matsunaga calls Gabbard “the

X-factor” in the 1998 same-sex '
' ballot initiative. “He motivated his

followers to go out there, hold

"signs, to vote. Gabbard was initial-

ly quiet as the ’98 campaign devel-
oped. letting others do most of the
talking. A massive advertising
campaign by both sides intensified
the issue. By election night. it was
Gabbard who emerged triumphant.

“I told the media that night.
‘Shame on you. Mike Gabbard,‘
because I deplore the kind of poli-
tics where the ends justify the
means." says l’OC’s Young. “He’s
a zealot who thinks that he has a
mandate, ‘as if he himself was
elected last November. He does
not wantlrto support anything that
honors somebody else’s differ-
ences — in this case, sexual orien-
tation.”

But Gabbard categorized the
same-sex marriage ban as a victo-
ry for" democracy, demonstrating

_ that the system works.

“What l’ve noticed is that
homosexual activists talk down to
people,” he says. “They don’t
respect the feelings of the people
in this community.  Homosexual

_marriage advocates were calling
usbigots, uneducated, gay-bash-

ers, stupid, backward, ‘or haters.”

Force of Nature?

' ' Gabbard says his religious and _
‘intellectual’ understanding of the

“true-nature” of homosexuality

-,,-motiv_ates him to fight and defeat

the “homosexual agenda.—”_But
some critics wonder if there is

more to ‘Mike Gabbard than

Hinduism.

“'1' don’t know what drives
him,” says attorney Foley, “but he
seems obsessed with homosexuali-
ty. l’ve never seen anything quite
like it.” Foley adds that he thinks

Gabbard has peaked in influence,
and that this influence will gradu-
ally decline.

Carolyn Golojuch, president of
the Hawai‘i chapter of Parents,
Family and Friends of Lesbians
and Gays, is perplexed by
Gabbard’s commitment as well.
She sat in on a radio program dur-
ing a call-in show last August.
When Golojuch, who‘is Hispanic,
linked racial discrimination with
sexual-orientation discrimination,
Gabbard forcefully objected on air.

“He is so angry,” Golojuch says
of Gabbard. “There’s something
behind him that we just don’t
know about. Why else would he
devote his life to denying human
rights to a segment of our popula-
tion?”

Others do not see anger or mys-
tery in Gabbard, however. Richard
Fried, at Honolulu trial lawyer,
who’s played tennis with Gabbard
for 15 years, calls Gabbard “the
fairest person I know...Yes, he’s
competitive, but he’s really rather
quiet, even mellow. He’s not the
wild, raving madman that is some-
times depicted in the media.”

Another friend, attorney Jim
Hochberg, says Gabbard has more
integrity than any of his oppo-
nents.

“This is a man who put his fam-
ily’s socio-economic status on the
line to speak out on what he feels
is right,” says Hochberg, one of
two‘ dissenting members of
Governor Ben Cayetano’s 1995
Commission on Sexual
Orientation and the Law. The com-
mission’s majority report deter-
mined that sexual orientation was
worthy of equal protection under
the law in regards to marriage ben-
efits.

“Mike knows his views are cor-
rect,” says Hochberg. “He’s
worked through the issues, all the
research, and made a careful deter-
mination. This is a man who
believes what he says.”

Though weary of the time and
energy he has spent in his catn-
paigns against homosexuality,
Gabbard would not -appear to be
ending his crusade anytime soon.
Cayctano"s statctnent in his
December inaugural that he would
seek to establish domestic partner-
ships is Gabbard’s next battle-
ground.

“If(}ov. Cayetano tries to push
the equivalent of same-sex mar-
riage down the throats of the peo-
ple of l~lawai'i. disguising it as
domestic partnerships or whatever,
he and legislators who support him
will tind themselves politically in.
hot water.  Marriage and fami-
lies are the bedrock of civiliza-
tion.“ he observes. “Government
and society show their apprecia- '-
tion for the nuclear family and rel- .
atives by offering them special:
benefits.” _ 

Gabbard claims to have no 1
interest in other agendas, and says "
he would like to have more time .j
for a personal life: “spending time" 
with my family, playing music,
surfing, playing tennis and teach-
ing meditation and bhakti-yoga.” I
He also brushes off queries into
possible personal explanations for ','
his views on homosexuality. 

He does, however, offer a per- \»
spective on enemies who would
analyze his motives; . 

-“Some frustratediihomosexual 
activists and their allies in thefi

  

 

media  are saying that those who
are fighting against the social *3
approval of homosexual behavior ‘
are doing so because they are clos-
et homosexuals or  they have"
homosexual tendencies, and 7
they’re trying to repress them,” he 
says. _ ‘

His response? By this reason-
ing, “those who are the most anti-
Mike Gabbard, in fact, in the core ,
of their hearts  really want to be"-
like me.” V