We're having a debate about same-sex marriage in this country largely because of the courage of Joseph Melillo, his partner, and two lesbian couples who sued the State of Hawai`i in 1991 to obtain marriage licenses.
On Tuesday, we lost Joe (seated in this picture, next to his partner, Pat Lagon) to throat cancer.
The Star-Bulletin has his obituary:
http://starbulletin.com/...
The lawsuit eventually resulted in the Supreme Court of Hawai`i's landmark Baehr v. Lewin decision in 1993. Of course, the debate over same-sex marriage has raged throughout the nation since then.
The Star-Bulletin also has a page that provides a lot of the local history on the same-sex-marriage issue:
http://starbulletin.com/...
I never met Joe, although I'm privileged to know his attorney, Dan Foley, who's now a judge. Dan was always grateful to have such brave, committed clients like Joe and his partner, Pat Lagon.
It's sad that Joe and Pat were never able to be married. I hope their inability to obtain the status of a married couple doesn't provide any legal or financial complications and add to Pat's grief.
I offer condolences to Pat and say aloha to Joe.