The weeks-long window of opportunity that allowed Oregon to become the gay marriage mecca of America this Spring ended when politicians decided to wait for a court ruling on the topic. Multnomah County froze its practice of issuing marriage licenses to homosexuals. Though the issue is still awaiting a legal decision, another branch of the government will take action on it in November.
The Oregonian has the story.
The initiative that would ban same-sex marriage qualified Monday for the fall ballot, setting the stage for another hot battle in the culture war of Oregon.
The initiative would amend the state constitution to define marriage as only between one man and one woman, jeopardizing more than 3,000 marriages between same-sex couples registered in Multnomah County earlier this year.
The Defense of Marriage Coalition collected more than 240,000 signatures, thought to be a record, and had 104,000 more valid ones than it needed to join medical malpractice, workers' compensation, property compensation and state forests among the issues on the Nov. 2 ballot.
Despite its reputation for relative liberalism in regard to homosexuality, Oregon was a hotbed of anti-gay action during the 1980s until the mid '90s. The Oregon Citizens Alliance regularly filed ballot iniatives seeking to curb what it considered damage to society by homosexuals.
Oregon's measure is the latest in a series of initiatives in the past 16 years to address gay rights. Voters in 2000 rejected an Oregon Citizens Alliance measure to bar schools from promoting homosexuality. The group also sponsored broader anti-gay rights measures in 1988, 1992 and 1994. The first passed but was declared unconstitutional in court. The other two failed.
The group fell upon hard times later and has been largely dormant as its leader, Lon Mabon seeks to evade the sanctions imposed in lawsuits he lost. The current anti-gay activists are not necessarily associated with the OCA. However, as a state without a Defense of Marriage Act, Oregon is an ideal place to test the waters in regard to gay unions. Polls show that most Oregonians oppose marrying gays, as is true in the rest of the states. However, politicians in the metropolitan Portland area have been surprisingly sympathetic. Four of the five Multnomah County commissioners favored issuing marriage licenses to gays. Support of gay unions from heterosexual citizens and businesses is common. The ballot measure will be a barometer of how many people throughout the state share the live and let live attitude of many pols and citizens in the state's largest city.
Article comments
1 - boomcrashbaby
Perhaps you should forward this article onto Oregonians:
article
Some interesting quotes from the report:
Gay-tolerant societies prosper economically
If you object to homosexuality on moral grounds, as Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., recently did in an interview, you may not be swayed by economic arguments. But if you are a fan of entrepreneurship and business growth, you should know the economic price of intolerance.
The key to understanding America's technological and economic vibrancy lies in our openness to new people and ideas. Tolerance of immigrants, gays and other minorities is much more important to sustained economic growth and the high-paying jobs than the tax cut President Bush has in mind.
...Conversely, major areas with relatively few gay couples tend to be slow- or no-growth places.
Innovation and overall regional economic vitality also are closely associated with the presence of gays and other indicators of tolerance and diversity, such as the percentage of immigrants and the level of racial and ethnic integration.
Why? Creative, innovative and entrepreneurial activities tend to flourish in the same kinds of places that attract gays and others outside the norm. To put it bluntly, a place where it's OK for men to walk down the street holding hands will probably also be a place where Indian engineers, tattooed software geeks and foreign-born entrepreneurs feel at home. When people from varied backgrounds, places and attitudes can collide, economic home runs are likely.
What's less well known, and what I've found in interviewing a wide range of people nationwide, is that more than a few heterosexual men and women say that they look for a "visible gay community" as a signal of a place that's likely to be both exciting and comfortable. These straight people also say they will ask if prospective employers if the firm offers same-sex partner benefits. They're looking for signs that nonstandard people - and ideas - are welcome.
Not all talented and creative people can abide homosexuality, of course. They may even move to more traditionalist regions or firms where their views prevail. That's fine, but it's not a winning formula for society as a whole.
2 - Mac Diva
In Oregon, I can foresee a direct conflict between the Supreme Court's eventual decision and the results from the ballot initiative. However, my hope is that the voters will surprise me by rejecting the anti-gay marriage initiative, thereby averting the conflict. Eventually, the issue will come before SCOTUS, but that could be a decade or more from now. Let us not forget the Dred Scott decision and Plessy v. Ferguson. Recognition of equal protection for outgroups can take a very long time. Affirmation by the electoral process can shorten what is usually a long and winding road.
3 - SkyGuy
Perhaps someone should warn Lou Mabon to stay out of the Wilsonville, Oregon rest area where he has been seen more than once in the far back section, where he was doing anything but collecting signatures for one of his petitions.