GLR November-December 2025

ESSAY Kamehameha III and His Joint King D EAN H AMER

W HEN CAPTAIN JAMES COOK and his crew first encountered the Hawai ian Islands in 1778, they underwent many shocks to their sensitivities, but none more astonishing than the natives’ acceptance of aik ā ne —intimate friends of the same sex. At first the foreigners were unsure what the word meant. Second Lieutenant James King, upon being told by a young man that he was aik ā ne to the chief, remarked: “We do not know for certain what relation an Aik ā ne is to the King; nor are willing to credit what some have learnt from the Women.” But within two months, James King “had no doubt of what an Aik ā ne meant,” which he charac terized as “the foulest pollutions that disgrace the men.” David Samwell, the surgeon’s mate, was more specific: “their business

§ K AOMI WAS BORN on Maui a little after the turn of the 19th cen tury. His mother was Kahuamoa, a Hawaiian woman. His father Moe was a native of Bora Bora who picked up the nickname “Jack” during his time as a seaman aboard the HMS Bounty . They were part of the household of Ka‘ahumanu, the favorite wife of Kamehameha I, who became the kuhina nui, or regent, after his death. Kaomi was a bright young man. He was one of the first students of Hiram Bingham, leader of the company of American missionaries who arrived in Hawai‘i in 1820, and so excelled that he was put in charge of a school to teach reading, writing, and Christian principles to the followers of Ka‘ahumanu, who had become Hawai‘i’s most ardent supporter of Christianity. He also toured the islands preaching salvation and Even the missionaries who came to despise Kaomi described him as charming, a gifted storyteller with a good sense of humor. He was also said to be handsome; one writer called him “angelically beautiful.” By age twenty he had moved to Hon olulu, where he came under the tute lage of Boki, royal governor of O‘ahu, a high chief who had been baptized as a Catholic but refused to be married in church and insisted on maintaining a Hawaiian lifestyle. It was from Boki that Kaomi learned tra ditional healing practices such as the diagnosis and treatment of illnesses through touch. Kaomi’s skills as a healer soon brought him to the attention of Kauikeaouli, the second son of Kamehameha the Great, who had become King Kamahemeha III at age twelve when his brother died during a trip to England. There is no record of the first meeting or courtship of Kauikeaouli and Kaomi, but soon the two became lovers. This came as no suprise to Hawaiians, who were accustomed to such intimate same-sex relationships. Kaomi had previously been aik ā ne to Kuakini, royal governor of Hawai‘i Island, who had himself been aik ā ne to Kamehameha the Great, uniter of the kingdom. The sole visual representation that remains of Kaomi is a missionary’s sketch showing him as an attendant to Kuakini as they watch a hula performance. Although there was gossip that Kaomi had seduced the young establishing prayer-meeting groups. His work played an important role in Hawai‘i’s embrace of the new “pala pala” (writing and all kinds of printed materials), soon becoming one of the most literate societies in the world.

is to commit the Sin of Onan upon the old King.” This same-sex interest was not limited to royalty nor to na tive men, as Samwell observed when a Hawaiian man visited his ship and “seeing a handsome young fellow whose appearance he liked much, offered six large Hogs to the Captain if he would let him stand his Aik ā ne for a lit tle while, such is the strange de pravity of these Indians.” For the next two centuries, a

long procession of foreign coloniz ers, missionaries, and settlers, together with the many Hawaiians and plantation worker immigrants who adopted Western ways, did everything they could to discour age, delegitimize, criminalize, and punish same sex relationships. They even redefined aik ā ne to strip it of its sexual connotation (much to the chagrin of dic tionary-trained missionaries whose requests to become the aik ā ne of Hawaiian men were met with great merriment). They failed to appreciate that aik ā ne relationships were more than purely social or romantic; they were interwoven into the fabric of Hawaiian society, and over time there would be bold individuals who would insist that same-sex relations be rec ognized and respected as a vital component of their indige nous way of life. The most prominent but also misunderstood of these heroic figures was Kaomi Moe, the aik ā ne of a Hawaiian king who came to be his co-ruler. Dean Hamer, a scientist, author, and filmmaker, lives in Hawai ʻ i with his husband and partner in activism, Joe Wilson.

King Kamehameha III

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