State Sen. Mike Gabbard's decision to appeal his reprimand by the O'ahu Democratic Party for leading the opposition to civil unions in the Legislature has the potential to expose a lot of raw nerves among Democrats if somebody doesn't find a way to finesse the dispute.

Many in the party hoped Gabbard would accept a slap on the wrist that had little meaningful consequence and let the matter die.

But he believes he did nothing wrong and wants a hearing before the state central committee. Presiding will be Democratic chairman Brian Schatz, who needs the support of both sides in his campaign for lieutenant governor.

You knew it would come to this when Gabbard, whose longstanding antipathy to gay unions runs contrary to the Democratic platform, switched from the Republicans to the Democrats two years ago in a marriage of convenience with Senate President Colleen Hanabusa.

Gabbard got to chair the Energy and Environment Committee and Hanabusa's Senate faction got another vote to tighten her hold on the presidency.

While members of the party's progressive wing were unhappy — enough so that Hanabusa arranged a meeting to try to smooth over hurt feelings — Gabbard was welcomed by Democratic elders.

At Gabbard's introduction as a Democrat, he was embraced by U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, among others, in a scene that was bizarre even for Hawai'i politics, considering the history.

In 2004, then-Republican Gabbard challenged former Democratic Rep. Ed Case for Congress, running as a conservative and arguing that Case was too liberal for Hawai'i.

When Case ran against Akaka for the Senate in 2006, Akaka's campaign manager argued that Case was too conservative for Hawai'i, calling him "a faux Democrat."

Now here was Akaka in 2007 leading the welcome wagon for Gabbard, who by his own words in 2004 was far to the right of the supposedly too-conservative Case.

If that smacked of hypocrisy, so would any move by the Democrats now to censure Gabbard for doing what it was well-known he would do when they threw down the red carpet for him.

Gabbard wasn't the only Democratic senator who opposed civil unions this year, and O'ahu Democrats who reprimanded him by a 17-14 vote offered thin justification for singling him out.

Sen. Robert Bunda joined Gabbard in voting against the bill in Judiciary Committee and other Democrats said publicly they'd vote against it if it reached the Senate floor.

Obviously, many Democrats had to have worked behind the scenes to kill the bill — including Hanabusa — or it wouldn't have been killed.

The party platform is written by a relatively small group of activists who can afford enough extra-shot lattes to stay awake during committee meetings; the average Democrat couldn't name 10 issues covered by the platform, much less explain the party's position.

No Hawai'i Democrat has ever been disciplined for refusing to abandon individual conscience and toe the party line on every single item in the platform.

Same-sex marriage has sharply divided the Democratic rank-and-file as much as the community at large, and divisions in even the party hierarchy were reflected in the O'ahu committee's close vote on Gabbard.

If Democrats take the road of ideological purity, anybody with a few hours to kill studying legislative voting reports could find reasons to censure any lawmaker.

It's a fascinating dilemma. While we await the outcome, let's take a moment to appreciate this irony: The old saying about politics making strange bedfellows is being proven by a guy who built his political career on a fixation with bedfellows.