Kirk Cashmere

In 1984 and 1986, he filed suit against the Marine Corps to remove a 65-foot cross at Camp Holland M. Smith in Honolulu.[5] Plaintiffs in the suit alleged that the cross is a religious symbol that violates the First Amendment. The cross had been erected for an Easter service in 1966, but naval officials argued it was a non-religious monument to prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action.[6][7] Naval Admiral Judge Advocate T.E. Flynn decided to remove the cross in 1986, but that decision was overturned by Marine Corps commandant General Paul Kelley in 1987.[8][6][9][10] In 1988, federal district court Judge Thomas Hogan ordered the cross to be removed.[6][7][8][9] The cross was removed on December 1, 1988, and replaced with an 80-foot flagpole and a monument.[11]

On November 14, 1988, he challenged the state's Good Friday holiday as a violation of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment and the Hawaii State Constitution.[12] The case was decided on August 9, 1991.[12] The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals court upheld Hawaii's right to declare Good Friday as an official state holiday.[13]

On May 1, 1991, the plaintiffs filed a complaint in the First Circuit Court of Hawaii that the Hawaii Marriage Law was unconstitutional because it prohibited issuing a marriage license on the sole basis of same sex.[14]

On May 5, 1993, the Hawaii Supreme Court issued a decision in Baehr v. Lewin (later known as Baehr v. Miike).[14][15] Cashmere was Lambda Legal Defense's local counsel and co-authored the amicus brief.[15]

In 1996, Cashmere was an attorney for three couples who sued Hawaii for denying marriage licenses on the sole basis the applicants were of the same sex.[14][16] Circuit Judge Kevin Chang ruled that the state failed to prove a "compelling reason" to ban same-sex marriages.[1]