Canada Gay Marriage Could Challenge Hawaii Laws

HONOLULU -- Hawaii courts may soon face the issue of same-sex marriage again. Two Kona men just married in Canada are coming home to fight for equal marriage rights here.

Bill Schuyler and Ron Rinaldi brought lots of Hawaiian flowers to Vancouver, British Columbia, for their wedding. The interior designers from Kailua-Kona reserved a flight to Canada the day same-sex marriages became legal there.

Rinaldi is a retired Navy commander and hopes their wedding will entitle Schuyler to the sizable benefits and privileges of a military spouse.

"So if they say to us no, we will not recognize your Canadian marriage certificate I think we have a very strong legal point to say it's absolute discrimination. We don't want anything special. We don't want special rights. We just want what everyone else has," Rinaldi said.

"I think that certainly would be discrimination," ACLU Hawaii attorney Brent White said.

The legal director of Hawaii's American Civil Liberties Union said the Hawaii courts may accept Canada's same-sex marriages as legal here.

"The only reason that you would recognize one marriage between an opposite sex couple from Canada and not a same-sex couple would be discrimination based on sex," White said.

However, other lawyers KITV 4 News spoke with said Hawaii may not be the best state for gay couples to bring their Canadian marriage licenses because just a few years ago Hawaii's voters passed a Constitutional amendment designed to prevent same-sex marriages from happening here.

After 28 years together the legal fight ahead didn't seem to faze Schuyler and Rinaldi.

"It's actually renewed our love for each other," Rinaldi said.