Kirk Cashmere

Kirk Cashmere (1955 – December 2, 2004) was a prominent civil rights attorney who helped make same-sex marriage a major issue in Hawaii, as well as a historian and pioneer of organized Judaism in the state. [http://starbulletin.com/2002/12/04/news/story16.html] Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, his family moved to Hawaii when he was 5 years old. He attended the Iolani School and took a degree in Near Eastern and Judaic studies at Brandeis University. [http://www2.hawaii.edu/~lawalum/Feb-2003b.pdf]

After studying Law at the University of Hawaii, he served as legal director for the ACLU, worked with the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii and the Life Foundation, and was a member of the state's Ethics Committee. As a member of the "Governor's Committee on HIV/AIDS," he played a central role in formulating policy that would at once protect the public from unsafe exposure and maintain the confidence of carriers.