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The owners of a gay bar and an LGBTQ+ culture website in Hawaii reached a $670,000 settlement last week in their discrimination lawsuit against the Honolulu Liquor Commission (HLC), pending city council approval.
On October 8, the owners of Scarlet Honolulu and Gay Island Guide settled their case against the HLC directly after seven hours of emotional testimony from Scarlet co-owner Joseph Luna, Hawaii News Now reported. Luna told the court that after he was forced to remain closeted growing up, he then endured years of targeted, homophobic bigotry and harassment from the Liquor Commission — all of which escalated in 2021 when he was allegedly shoved by an inspector, prompting the lawsuit that November.
“The entire courtroom was in tears, and the judge was clearly paying attention to his story,” Gay Island Guide owner Walter Enriquez told HNN. Enriquez joined the Scarlet owners in filing the lawsuit after HLC inspectors issued allegedly “unfounded” citations at a Gay Island Guide event in October 2021, according to court documents. Enriquez accused HLC of violating his right to due process, alleging inspectors used a false “noise complaint” to target the LGBTQ+ event.
Following Luna’s testimony last week, the plaintiffs unexpectedly reached a settlement with HLC, under which HLC would pay $670,000 to the combined plaintiffs. The settlement terms also include major oversight reforms for the commission. According to HNN: inspectors would be required to wear body cameras and only assigned inspections at random, and HLC would submit to an independent review by city officials while also filing quarterly reports with a federal court. The plaintiffs previously rejected another settlement in May, which lawyer James DiPasquale said at the time did not deliver adequate reforms for the commission.
But the settlement must still be approved by the Honolulu City Council, which isn’t guaranteed. As Civil Beat notes, the council voted to postpone a decision on a $1.5 million wrongful death settlement just one day after the HLC agreement was reached. DiPasquale and Scarlet co-owner Robbie Baldwin also told Civil Beat that there was no specific timeline for how long HLC would be federally monitored, and that some provisions may need to be enacted through the state legislature. Baldwin added that he and his co-plaintiffs would be allowed to sue again if HLC did not show signs of improvement.
That could be easier said than done for HLC, which has seen multiple other lawsuits and scandals emerge on the heels of the Scarlet discrimination case. Last year, Jhumar Ray Waite — a gay Filipino man who was hired as a liquor inspector in August 2022 — filed a lawsuit under the Civil Rights Act, alleging that three other HLC investigators subjected him to homophobic and racist discrimination and harassment at work, such as mocking his accent and shouting epithets at transgender sex workers. HLC was also accused of being party to a death threat against Baldwin’s partner, after graffiti reading “Rob Is Dead” appeared on the outside of a his partner frequently passed. At least five HLC chairs and vice-chairs have been appointed and resigned since the start of the lawsuit, the latest being Lisa Martin, an Illinois transplant who took office in December 2023 and resigned in April after allegedly, while drunk, flashing her badge and threatening to close down another Honolulu bar if an employee did not let her in.
Baldwin told HNN that the settlement, and the evidence that came to light as a result of the lawsuit, “basically confirms that this was a completely broken organization.” But he also hoped that the settlement would encourage others to defend their legal rights.
“I want people to know is to not stop fighting for what’s right,” Baldwin said. “It’s hard, it’s stressful, but if you keep at it, you can really make change.”
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