Covey, who conducts self-help seminars throughout the country and is the author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, told the anti-gay fund-raisers :

"I believe it takes a mother and a father to produce a child and there's never been an exception. ... To me, that is kind of a natural principle for a natural law. And that's why I'm behind this kind of a movement."

Response from gay and lesbian movement leaders was immediate.

"We are angry that Mr. Covey has decided to inject himself into this fight over the Hawaii Constitution," said David M. Smith, senior strategist for the Human Rights Campaign. "Just hours before this event, a spokesman for Mr. Covey, Greg Link, assured me that he would not take sides in this battle. In fact, he said repeatedly that Mr. Covey's organization does not attempt to define family so that Covey's principles can be applied by all people.

"Furthermore, Mr. Link said Mr. Covey had not been aware of the group's agenda when he accepted this speaking engagement. That was clearly untrue."

Link, a vice president of the West Valley City-based Franklin Covey company, had also said that Covey usually confines his comments to material from his books.

"We try to transcend politics," Link mused. "We teach principles of effectiveness without regard to people's circumstances. We do not teach what values people should have."

Covey's values, it appears, are up for grabs from one day to the next.

Covey spoke to the $100-a-person fund-raiser, Save Traditional Marriage '98 drawing about 275 attendees, according to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

The sponsoring organization is a political action committee dedicated to passing an anti-gay state constitutional amendment in 1998 giving legislators the right to restrict legal marriage to opposite-sex couples.

"Stephen Covey has a right to his opinion, but when he publicly endorses the agenda of an explicitly anti-gay organization, potential customers have the right to consider that opinion when deciding whether to buy his products," HRC's Smith said.

The Hawaii Supreme Court is expected to rule at any time in a case expected to find that same-sex marriage is legal under the state constitution.

Bishop Francis DiLorenzo, representing the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu and David Hannemann, president of the Hawaii Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, were also among the hundreds of people present at the anti-gay fund-raiser in Waikiki.

People wishing to respond to Covey regarding this matter can call the organization that promotes his seminars, Franklin-Covey, at 1-800-863-1492.