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Mike Gabbard
Gerald Michael "Mike" Gabbard (born January 15, 1948) is an American politician who is the Hawaii state senator for District 21 from the Democratic Party, since 2006. Gabbard rose to prominence for efforts to prevent same-sex marriage in Hawaii by passing a 1998 amendment to the Constitution of Hawaii to give the state legislature "the power to reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples" under the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Gabbard, who was born in American Samoa, is the first person of Samoan descent to serve in the Hawaii Senate.
His daughter, Tulsi Gabbard, was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Hawaii's second congressional district from 2013 to 2021 and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020. She later switched parties and became the Director of National Intelligence during President Donald Trump’s second term in 2025.
Gabbard was born on January 15, 1948, in Fagatogo, American Samoa, one of eight children of Aknesis Agnes (Yandall) and Benjamin Harrison Gabbard, Jr.[citation needed] Mike Gabbard is of Samoan and European descent from both his maternal and paternal ancestry.[citation needed] He is a U.S. citizen from birth due to his father's U.S. citizenship. Gabbard lived in Hawaii as a child and graduated from Choctawhatchee High School in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. He studied at and obtained a degree in English from Sonoma State College in 1971. He earned a master's degree in community college administration from Oregon State University.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, Gabbard taught high school English in American Samoa and was a guidance counselor and later Assistant Dean of Instruction, and Dean of Adult and Community Education at American Samoa Community College. He also worked as a head tennis pro at the Kuilima Hyatt Resort on the North Shore of O'ahu in the mid 1970s.
From 1983 to 1987, Gabbard and his wife Carol established the Ponomauloa School in Wahiawa, Hawaii, where he worked as headmaster and teacher; it closed after five years.
From 1988 to 1992, Gabbard and his wife owned The Natural Deli, a vegetarian restaurant within Moiliili, Hawaii's, Down to Earth Natural Food Store. Gabbard closed the restaurant following picketing by activists after Gabbard said on his self-funded radio show, "Let's Talk Straight Hawaii", on K-108, that "If [two applicants] were both the same, then I would take the one that is not homosexual."
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Gabbard and his wife worked for state senator Rick Reed.
In the early 1990s, Gabbard and his wife were listed as teachers for the Science of Identity Foundation (SIF).
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Mike Gabbard
Gerald Michael "Mike" Gabbard (born January 15, 1948) is an American politician who is the Hawaii state senator for District 21 from the Democratic Party, since 2006. Gabbard rose to prominence for efforts to prevent same-sex marriage in Hawaii by passing a 1998 amendment to the Constitution of Hawaii to give the state legislature "the power to reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples" under the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Gabbard, who was born in American Samoa, is the first person of Samoan descent to serve in the Hawaii Senate.
His daughter, Tulsi Gabbard, was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Hawaii's second congressional district from 2013 to 2021 and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020. She later switched parties and became the Director of National Intelligence during President Donald Trump’s second term in 2025.
Gabbard was born on January 15, 1948, in Fagatogo, American Samoa, one of eight children of Aknesis Agnes (Yandall) and Benjamin Harrison Gabbard, Jr.[citation needed] Mike Gabbard is of Samoan and European descent from both his maternal and paternal ancestry.[citation needed] He is a U.S. citizen from birth due to his father's U.S. citizenship. Gabbard lived in Hawaii as a child and graduated from Choctawhatchee High School in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. He studied at and obtained a degree in English from Sonoma State College in 1971. He earned a master's degree in community college administration from Oregon State University.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, Gabbard taught high school English in American Samoa and was a guidance counselor and later Assistant Dean of Instruction, and Dean of Adult and Community Education at American Samoa Community College. He also worked as a head tennis pro at the Kuilima Hyatt Resort on the North Shore of O'ahu in the mid 1970s.
From 1983 to 1987, Gabbard and his wife Carol established the Ponomauloa School in Wahiawa, Hawaii, where he worked as headmaster and teacher; it closed after five years.
From 1988 to 1992, Gabbard and his wife owned The Natural Deli, a vegetarian restaurant within Moiliili, Hawaii's, Down to Earth Natural Food Store. Gabbard closed the restaurant following picketing by activists after Gabbard said on his self-funded radio show, "Let's Talk Straight Hawaii", on K-108, that "If [two applicants] were both the same, then I would take the one that is not homosexual."
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Gabbard and his wife worked for state senator Rick Reed.
In the early 1990s, Gabbard and his wife were listed as teachers for the Science of Identity Foundation (SIF).