Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
By COLIN M. STEWART
Tribune-Herald staff writer
Ten Hawaii Island couples had applications for civil unions certified last week, according to the state Department of Health.
Hawaii’s civil union law, known as Act 1, went into effect at midnight on Jan. 1. It provides same-sex, as well as opposite-sex, partners with similar rights and privileges to those afforded by marriage. Applications for civil unions were available on the state Department of Health’s website once the new law went into effect.
The Hilo District office at 75 Aupuni St. had certified 10 of the applications by Friday afternoon, said District Health Officer Aaron Ueno.
“Three couples submitted the applications through this office,” he said, while the other seven had submitted theirs via licensed private civil union performers.
As with marriages, he added, civil union participants are given the option to allow their names to be released to the public once their applications have been processed, but none of the couples who applied have done so.
Meanwhile, organizers who helped push multiple bills for civil unions through the Legislature last year said that the past week had been a joyful and exciting one.
“It’s been a truly great week for Hawaii,” Equality Hawaii spokesman Donald Bentz said Monday afternoon. “Getting to see the couples getting to publicly show their love and commitment to their partners has been very energizing.”
Bentz said that as with any new government rollout, there had been a few “hiccups and kinks” during the week, mainly in dealing with computer-system glitches in Honolulu. But ultimately, he said, “the Department of Health has put forth a very valiant effort to make the process as stress free and simple as possible.”
He added that some couples have opted to wait on obtaining a civil union until inconsistencies and problems have been ironed out in the new law.
“There are still some questions out there,” he said “including on the process for terminating a reciprocal beneficiary relationship. But the Legislature is working on a fix-it bill.”
According to the new law, before couples can apply for a civil union, they must terminate any reciprocal beneficiary relationships, which formerly offered Hawaii same-sex couples with marriage-like rights and benefits. Some people have expressed fear that the law does not provide protections for couples who have terminated their reciprocal beneficiary status but have not yet had their civil unions certified.
For a couple to be eligible for a civil union, each person must be at least 18 years old and not related to the other, either as “parent and child, grandparent and grandchild, two siblings, aunt and nephew, aunt and niece, uncle and nephew, uncle and niece, and any persons who stand in relation to each other as ancestor and descendant of any degree whatsoever.” Additionally, they may not already be partners in another civil union, a spouse in a marriage, or a party in a reciprocal beneficiary relationship.
The fee for a civil union license is $60, plus an administration fee of $5. In addition to filling out a license application, couples seeking a civil union must appear before a state-approved licensing agent — either a judge or a minister, priest or officer of any religious denomination.
Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.