Vocabulary

AFL-CIO American Federation of Labor - Congress of Industrial Organizations, the overall umbrella group for labor unions in the United States of America.

AG / A.G. Attorney General, the official lawyer for the State of Hawaii. The attorney general represents the state in most of its lawsuits unless otherwise specified by law.

HRC Human Rights Campaign, based in Washington, D.C. Human Rights Campaign has extensive experience with election campaigns throughout the United States.

LLDEF Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, which is very active in representing the three plaintiff couples in the Baehr v. Miike court case. In particular, this organization has sponsored attorney Evan Wolfson as cocounsel with Hawaii attorney Dan Foley in the case. Also, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund provided superb expert witnesses for the September 1996 trial before Judge Kevin Chang.

NGLTF National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, based in Washington, D.C.

PAC Political Action Committee, mandated by state or federal laws to collect and spend money on election of officials and/or on ballot measures. In Hawaii, the Campaign Spending Commission administers the laws which govern Political Action Committees. For example, any donation larger than 100 dollars (in aggregate, during an election cycle) is publicly reported with the name, address, occupation and employer of the donor. Moreover, each donor is limited in their total donations to any one committee. The limit on donations varies with the nature of the elective office and/or ballot measure.

RB Law This is the Reciprocal Beneficiary Act passed by the 1997 Hawaii Legislature. This act makes available to some couples, who cannot otherwise marry, about fifty of the rights of the marriage. Same-sex couples can be reciprocal beneficiaries, as well as some opposite-sex couples who are close relatives. Heterosexual couples who CAN get legally married are excluded. No one can be both married and a reciprocal beneficiary (for example, a married man cannot make his mistress a reciprocal beneficiary with himself). Although health benefits are clearly included among the list of rights for reciprocal beneficiaries, Hawaii's attorney general Margery Bronster gutted the health benefits in several official opinions beginning in July of 1997.

AFL-CIO	American Federation of Labor - Congress of Industrial Organizations, the overall umbrella group for labor unions in the United States of America.
AG / A.G.	Attorney General, the official lawyer for the State of Hawaii. The attorney general represents the state in most of its lawsuits unless otherwise specified by law.
HRC	Human Rights Campaign, based in Washington, D.C. Human Rights Campaign has extensive experience with election campaigns throughout the United States.
LLDEF	Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, which is very active in representing the three plaintiff couples in the Baehr v. Miike court case. In particular, this organization has sponsored attorney Evan Wolfson as cocounsel with Hawaii attorney Dan Foley in the case. Also, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund provided superb expert witnesses for the September 1996 trial before Judge Kevin Chang.
NGLTF	National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, based in Washington, D.C.
PAC	Political Action Committee, mandated by state or federal laws to collect and spend money on election of officials and/or on ballot measures. In Hawaii, the Campaign Spending Commission administers the laws which govern Political Action Committees. For example, any donation larger than 100 dollars (in aggregate, during an election cycle) is publicly reported with the name, address, occupation and employer of the donor. Moreover, each donor is limited in their total donations to any one committee. The limit on donations varies with the nature of the elective office and/or ballot measure.
RB Law	This is the Reciprocal Beneficiary Act passed by the 1997 Hawaii Legislature. This act makes available to some couples, who cannot otherwise marry, about fifty of the rights of the marriage. Same-sex couples can be reciprocal beneficiaries, as well as some opposite-sex couples who are close relatives. Heterosexual couples who CAN get legally married are excluded. No one can be both married and a reciprocal beneficiary (for example, a married man cannot make his mistress a reciprocal beneficiary with himself). Although health benefits are clearly included among the list of rights for reciprocal beneficiaries, Hawaii's attorney general Margery Bronster gutted the health benefits in several official opinions beginning in July of 1997.