It's not surprising that Hawai'i Republicans dipped into some culture bashing in their most recent rhetoric.
Basically the story concerns the curriculum developed by the Hawaii Department of Education and the University of Hawai'i to combat teen pregnancy and STI transmission by giving the young people there accurate information in order to make informed choices about their sexual health. The name for the program is Pono Choices. A rough english translation of the concept Pono is "righteousness," but with deeper culturally and spiritual connotations involving living in harmony, balance, and unity.
The core concept is that it is not who you are that puts you at risk; it is what you do.
As you might imagine, this does not fly well in right-wing circles. Their extremist vision is that
Pono Choices is being forced on children and their parents…even though parents have the right to opt out of the program, like all reproductive health programs. But also, they are warning everyone that the program "encourages the homosexual lifestyle," even though it is in compliance with an abstinence-based education policy.
Republicans Sam Slom and Bob McDermott slammed the program because it "robbed children of their innocence" even though they have refused to participate in an orientation session and so know little about it.
The Department of Education reviewed the program and concluded:
Our review not only affirmed that the curriculum meets department standards, but it also showed that Pono Choices is a culturally responsive curriculum that has resulted in positive outcomes for students ... [such as] more youth abstaining from sex and less teen pregnancy and STI transmission.
So, like always seems to happen when these folks lose, they turned to personal attacks. Their two main targets are transgender people. Kim Coco Iwamoto is the commissioner of the Hawai'i Civil Rights Commission, a transgender woman who served two previous terms on the Hawai'i Board of Education. But the more direct target has been Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, a Native Hawaiian teacher, cultural practitioner, and community leader who is māhū, the native Hawaiian traditional transgender identity. Mrs. Wong-Kalu chairs the
O'ahu Island Burial Council, among other responsibilities and often opens important Hawaiian events with Native Hawaiian chants. She is affectionately known as
Kumu Hina by her students.
She appears briefly in one of the video episodes included in the program:
In an attack piece by Tito Montes of the Hawaii Republican Assembly, Mrs. Wong-Kalu is referred to as "him." despite evidence to the contrary and having legal status as a married woman. She is referred to as a "transvestite drag queen."
Ironically, the take-home message from the video is hardly controversial: You get HIV from not being safe. But the language from the Republican Assembly makes it clear that their real concern has nothing to do with sex education. What they hate is the very existence of LGBT people.
Definitely not pono.
The message for all Hawaiians:
He ʻike ʻana ia I ka pono.
--Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson at Huffington Post
Recognize the right thing and do it.