It began with these sentences from a Hawaii lawmaker: “I want a lesbian for president. I want a person with AIDS for president, and I want a gay man for vice president.”

Picked up by social media, Rep. Jeanne Kapela’s full public invocation delivered in the chamber of the state House of Representatives Feb. 1 soon unleashed a slew of attacks on Instagram, including on an account run by Rep. Elijah Pierick.

By early March the outrage and vitriol generated by the invocation led to a heated debate over the Hawaii Legislature’s position on hate speech. On March 15, Kapela announced that she had introduced twin House resolutions that she said in a press release were in response to “violent threats against her office.”

Kapela’s press release said that the online threats and hate speech “were facilitated and endorsed” by Pierick through his official state social media accounts and other digital platforms.

“No one should be subjected to such threats, whether they are a legislator of a member of the public,” she said.

Now, as the 2024 session heads toward a May 3 conclusion, House leaders are working to resolve the dustup between Kapela and Pierick.

They are also trying to update social media guidelines, some of which appear to date to 2017. In the online world, of course, 2017 was light-years ago, and what is said and done today on Instagram, Facebook, X, TikTok and other platforms is at another level that is impacting the outcome of governance globally.

A report released last month from the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights argues that the “leading tech-related threat” to the 2024 elections “stems not from the creation of content with artificial intelligence but from a more familiar source: the distribution of false, hateful, and violent content via social media platforms.”

Here at home, Pierick denied that he incited or facilitated threats toward Kapela, and he said he was surprised by her reaction.

“Her claims are unfounded,” he said. “I don’t agree with them. I want her to be protected and safe. So I pray God’s protection for her.”

At the request of House Speaker Scott Saiki and Minority Leader Lauren Matsumoto, Pierick took down the video of the invocation as well as the comments, which he said he did not moderate. He said he also messaged commenters directly to say they should not be making threats.

But he also said that the people of Hawaii “have the right to know what’s going on at the State Capitol,” including voting records and what lawmakers have to say.

“I think it’s important for us to share that, to be transparent with that,” he said, adding that the invocation was already public and he did not post it until Feb. 21. “And so my goal was just to let everybody know what’s going on.”

Still, over one month later, Kapela said in an interview she has staff that cry “because they’re so uncomfortable.” They have fielded calls from people that don’t live in her district, she said, who yell at and harass them.

“The bigger problem for me is that as a state legislature, it’s frustrating that a sitting House member would attack another member,” said Kapela. “The second frustrating thing is the fact that our House hasn’t really taken action.”

Kapela said she remains “horrified and disappointed” about what happened.

Saiki said he hopes that Matsumoto and Majority Leader Nadine Nakamura can resolve the dispute as quickly as possible and for the House to adopt new guidance regarding social media use before session ends.

“It’s up to them to figure out, but as soon as possible is better,” he said.

Beginning March 18, Saiki also suspended House invocations until after Easter Sunday — “a little cooling off period,” he said.

‘I Want A President’

There is little disagreement that Kapela and Pierick are at opposite ends of the ideological spectrum, although their House bios suggest both hold compassion for people in need.

Kapela, a progressive Democrat, was elected in 2020 to represent House District 5 (portions of Keaau and Kurtistown, Mountain View, Glenwood, Fern Forest, Volcano, Pahala, Punaluu, Naalehu and Hawaiian Ocean View) on the Big Island.

On her House web page, Kapela says she believes that economic and social justice “are essential to our democracy.” She is eager “to craft a Green New Deal that protects people and our planet from the twin threats of economic inequality and climate change.”

A former Miss Hawaii 2015 who won the title of Miss Congeniality at the Miss America competition, she serves as the prevention education coordinator for Imua Alliance, a nonprofit service provider for victims of sex-trafficking.

Pierick, a conservative Republican elected in 2022 to represent House District 39 on Oahu (Royal Kunia, Village Park, Honouliuli, Hoopili and a portion of Waipahu), became an ordained pastor in 2019 from the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel in Los Angeles. His official bio said he holds a bachelor of arts in Bible and Christian ministry from Pacific Rim Christian University in Honolulu, and doctor of ministry in pastoral counseling from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.

Pierick has volunteered for the Kapolei Juvenile Detention Facility and done work in suicide prevention and recovery. He is the author of “The Warrior Shepherd: Exploring the Freedom, History, and Ethics of the USAF Chaplain.”

In his short time in office, Pierick has frequently cited his religious views in opposing legislation. It has sometimes prompted House Democrats to complain that Pierick has strayed from the purpose of the bills.

Kapela said her invocation on Feb. 1 has been taken out of context. She was reciting “I want a president,” which was written by Zoe Leonard, a New York-based artist, feminist and activist, according to Wikipedia.

The full work, which is housed at the Whitney Museum of American Art, is said to have been inspired by a gay woman, Eileen Myles, running for president in 1992 who came from a community affected by both poverty and AIDS.

Before reading a slightly edited version of “I want a president” — something she acknowledged — Kapela said it had been written before she was born.

“It shows how far we’ve come and also how far we have to go,” she told the House chamber.

Here’s another line from Leonard’s work read by Kapela: “I want a president that had an abortion at 16, and I want a candidate who isn’t the lesser of two evils, and I want a president who lost their last lover to AIDS, who still sees that in their eyes every time they lay down to rest.”

After reading the work, Kapela said, “This may be what I look for in a leader. This may be what I strive to do. Every single time I step into this building is to be a voice for people who are often silenced, or are just too busy working and trying to survive to be able to come into this building and make their voices heard.”

That prompted Rep. Gene Ward, a Republican, to point out to the chamber that Kapela did not identify in which country she wants to have such a president.

The reaction on Pierick’s Instagram account was less charitable.

“She is sick and needs to be removed,” read one post, according to screenshots taken by Kapela’s office.

“Nut job,” said another

And another read, “OFF WITH HER HEAD,” followed by an angry-face emoji.

Pierick still has the video posted on his personal Instagram account, although the comments appear far milder when I looked at them on Monday.

‘Purely Partisan’ Resolution

Kapela’s resos on hate speech — House Resolution 23 and House Concurrent Resolution 34 — easily passed the House Higher Education and Technology Committee March 15, which is chaired by Rep. Amy Perruso with Kapela as vice chair.

The measures call on state departments and agencies to “address disinformation and digital hate speech in a variety of ways, including by developing safety plans to protect public institutions, increasing access to media literacy and training programs, and establishing trauma-informed protocols to assist individuals who have been targeted by online hate speech and violent threats.”

When HR 23 and HCR 34 came to the House floor for a vote on March 19, however, they encountered fierce resistance.

Rep. Diamond Garcia, the House minority floor leader, rose to say that he was stunned to see that the resos only referred to right-wing acts of violence.

“This is a purely partisan resolution, and the fact is that there have been multiple mass shootings conducted by left wing individuals as well,” he said. “So this premise is just completely unfounded.”

And Ward said, “I mean, this is a political resolution which doesn’t belong in this body.”

But Perruso said she strongly supported the resos.

“I think that we have not done enough, in our current context, to really understand and address the effects of activity on social media, and we need to start taking that space seriously and to talk about how it affects our collective safety, working in our capacity, but also trying to protect other public workers,” she said.

But Rep. Kanani Souza, a Republican who does not participate with the minority caucus, said, “I think that this resolution doesn’t go far enough. We need to police ourselves. We need to show aloha out there and then our community members will follow.”

Five of the six Republican legislators voted against the resos while 15 of the 45 Democrats were excused. Because the House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee did not schedule them for a subsequent hearing, both measures are now dead.

As for Kapela and Pierick, she unsuccessfully tried to take out a temporary restraining order against him. But she has made clear to Pierick that he is not welcomed sharing an elevator at the Capitol.

Pierick said he is hoping for a meeting with her and leadership.

“I’m totally open for reconciliation, for hooponopono,” he said.

Kapela said she wants a public apology from Pierick.

“That’s one of the major things that I would like to see,” she said. “I would also like to see, or have some sort of confirmation from the state Legislature, that we will protect our House members and our staff.”