Same-Sex Marriage

Same Sex Marriage/Domestic Partnership in Oregon

Update 5/2007

"In 2004, Oregonians approved Measure 36, a Constitutional Amendment that defined marriage as “between one man and one woman.”

With marriage constitutionally precluded for families headed by same-sex couples, Oregonians sought to identify a different way to offer those families some measure of security. A panel of business, faith and community leaders was appointed by Governor Kulongoski to explore the issue. Based on their recommendations, the Oregon Family Fairness Act (HB 2007) and Oregon Equality Act (SB 2) were introduced in Salem in early 2007.

The Oregon Family Fairness Act created Domestic Partnerships for same-sex couples and their families, while the Oregon Equality Act remedied the discrimination that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Oregonians experienced at work, in housing and public accommodation (such as hotels and restaurants) and in other important areas.

Both bills passed the Legislature with bipartisan support. In May 2007, Governor Kulongoski signed them into law into a law. Both laws are supposed to go into effect on January 1, 2008."- Basic Rights Oregon

Update 4/14/2005

State Supreme Court Rules, and Now It is Time to Take Action: Words from Evan Wolfson at Freedom to Marry

"Today the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that the courageous local officials who moved last year to end discrimination in marriage regrettably lacked the authority to take action as they did. The Court turned on deficiencies not in the couples, nor in the impulse of many non-gay and gay Oregonians to fight for equality, but, rather, in the current discriminatory law.

Here's what today's narrow, technical Supreme Court ruling did not take away:

The love we saw in those 3000 couples who came forward to marry, surrounded in joy and celebration by their children, parents, relatives, friends, and neighbors. These committed same-sex couples, gay and lesbian Oregonians, are not going to vanish.

The personal commitment each one of those couples has made in their lives. These Oregonians are doing the hard work of marriage in their lives -- caring for one another, dreaming dreams, pooling resources, building lives together, raising children, worrying about aging parents, fighting over who takes out the garbage, juggling who's going to drop the kids off at soccer.

The moral obligation of government not to put obstacles in the path of people seeking to care for one another, but, rather, to treat all people equally, protect all families, and support our common human aspirations for liberty, equality, and the pursuit of happiness with our loved ones. Current law falls short of the fairness and duty of care that mark a free and good society.

No, neither the court ruling nor the recent discriminatory constitutional amendment could take away the love, commitment, and values at stake in this long-haul civil-rights battle to end exclusion from marriage and equal protections for families.

What the court ruling did take away for today, though, was the legal commitment the couples sought to undertake through marriage, just like other Americans, to match the personal commitment in their lives. The court said that the county lacked the authority to issue marriage licenses to these committed couples and -- until the new discriminatory constitutional amendment restricting marriage to different-sex couples is removed – same-sex couples may not exercise the freedom to marry that is a birthright of all Americans.

Couples willing to make a commitment in life deserve a commitment in law as well. The Supreme Court's ruling further underscores that Oregon must move now to provide these families with the protections and security we all deserve -- and if for now it is not going to be marriage, then it must be the next best thing, a parallel legal structure of responsibilities, rules, and respect . Governor Ted Kulongoski was right yesterday to call on the legislature to act immediately to meet this "great moral challenge" by enacting the civil union law (SB 1000) proposed by a bipartisan group of senators and supported by a coalition led by Basic Rights Oregon. Surely Oregonians do not want to continue to subject their gay neighbors to a cruel catch-22, saying that family protections can only be obtained through marriage, and you may not marry.

The couples who married last year remain married in their hearts. They didn't use up the marriage licenses available in Oregon last year, and no one is any better off today because their legal marriages were taken away. Oregon's legislators must begin to cure the injustice and injury by making available to these couples the tangible legal and economic duties and obligations families need to get through crises as well as the ordinary ups and downs of life.

If not marriage now, then, for now, civil union. There is no other moral way to move forward. The couples have shown their commitment in love and caring. Are Oregon's representatives equally committed to all families and fairness?"

Update March 25, 2005

On March 3,2005, one year after Multnomah county's historic decision to allow same-sex marriage, nearly 1,000 Oregonians went to the State Capitol to lobby for fairness and equality for all Oregonians. In the words of Roey Thorpe, the Director of Basic Rights Oregon:

"One year ago today, we stood in the rain and we believed. We believed in each other. We believed in our state and our country. We had hope and we were fueled by the promise of our dreams.

Here we are one year later. We have been up. We have been down. We have won and we’ve lost. People might think that we are defeated, but we are not! We have never given up! We will never give up! We are not going away!

We’re here. We deserve to be here. We’re here today to say this is our Oregon too. We are here for ourselves, for our children and our grandchildren because we dare to dream of a state where love trumps fear, where honesty never bows under the weight of secrets, where silence borne of shame has no place.

We dream of an Oregon—OUR Oregon—where people do not leave the places they grew up and the families they love because they are unable to live a lie. Our Oregon is an Oregon where young people never question whether life is worth living, where faith comforts but does not condemn, where the gifts that each of us has to offer can be used and appreciated, where difference is honored instead of reviled.

Prejudice has no place in this Oregon—in OUR Oregon. Bigotry and judgment are no where to be found. Families are not torn apart, employees feel fully confident in their value, people live in their neighborhoods and communities and are never afraid to leave their homes or be seen with the person they love.

In OUR Oregon, civil rights are for all of us and don’t depend on your zip code. In our Oregon, fairness and equality shine even when the sun does not.

We are here today. We are parents, neighbors, teachers, grandparents, clergy, students and taxpayers and we are voters. We are here to say that this is our Oregon too!

You know, the modern gift for a first anniversary is a clock and that is especially appropriate today because our time has come.

This is our moment in time and we are not going away. We have waited long enough for the simple equality and fairness that our state should offer every Oregonian and we ask every person in our state who shares our vision of fairness, of equality, of unity and above all our vision of love, to stand with us, demand that the Oregon Basic Fairness Act be passed and that civil unions become the law—demand justice and equality for all!"

Update: 1/31/05: Basic Rights Oregon Attorneys File Lawsuit Challenging Constitutionality of Measure 36 Ban on Same-Sex Marriage

"Basic Rights Oregon attorneys filed a lawsuit today on behalf of Oregon voters challenging the constitutionality of Measure 36, a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage approved by Oregon voters on November 2, 2004."

Commentary: Given the aftermath of the Amendment 36 vote in Oregon (see below), I praise Basic Rights Oregon for issuing a state constitutional challenge that I believe is sound and will prevail in the courts- Lowell Greenberg

On November 2, 2004, the state of Oregon officially made LGBT people second class citizens by passing Amendment 36 to the Oregon Constitution, banning same sex marriage. The sense of loss in our community is deep. As a community we feel disenfranchised and used.

Mississippi and Montana just banned same-sex marriage as well. Michigan joined Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, N. Dakota, Oklahoma and Utah in also banning civil unions and domestic partnerships. Ohio, the schizophrenic swing state, went even further. Buckeye voters, by a 3-2 margin, prevents granting any benefits to same-sex partners-that means even if a company wanted to provide domestic partner benefits, it probably can’t.

Basic Rights Oregon (BRO) waged a Campaign to defeat Amendment 36 that had over 9,000 volunteers; reached a quarter of a million voters and raised over 2.8 MILLION dollars from nearly 10,000 individual contributors.

I am proud of the money, blood, sweat and tears contribution made by the BRO staff and national groups such as the Human Rights Commission and the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force.

I am proud of the many supportive LGBT and straight citizens in Oregon & throughout the country who openly opposed the Amendment and supported our community.

I am proud of the contributions and sacrifices I and my many wonderful gay and straight friends made to the Campaign. Over the course of the Campaign, I lost my job, had signs vandalized and had the air taken out of my car tires. During the Campaign I spoke and raised money at house parties, individually contributed, canvassed, volunteered at fund raisers, manned the phone bank, wrote on the subject and stood for what I believed.

I am proud of the courageous stand taken by Multnomah County Oregon Commissioners Diane Linn, Maria Rojo de Steffey, Serena Cru & Lisa Naito that allowed 3,022 couples to be married in Multnomah County (Portland, Oregon) last Spring.

I am proud of Benton County Oregon Commissioners Linda Modrell, Jay Dixon and Annabelle Jaramillo for the courageous stand they took in banning all marriage in Benton until Oregon courts ruled on the legality of same-sex marriage.

The fight has just begun and the struggle may be long and arduous. Below is a statement from Roey Thorpe, Executive Director of Basic Rights Oregon.

WE WILL NOT GIVE UP: WORDS FROM ROEY THORPE

I know this is a hard time for all of us.

This has been an amazing year of highs and lows, victories and defeats. Many of us felt the joy of marrying our long-time partners this year. And now we know the pain of having the right to that marriage put to a public vote.

But let me tell you, this is not the way to decide social policy - the Constitution was designed exactly for the purpose of preventing the rights of a minority from being determined by the whims of a majority.

The very notion that our Constitution can be changed to deny rights to a minority with a vote of a simple majority of those who turn out is ludicrous. We have higher standards for passing a school bond levy.

No matter what our opponents say, this is not a mandate on the rights of gay and lesbian people.

Polls show that 80% of Oregonians support protecting gays and lesbians. But in this short campaign cycle, Oregonians didn't have time to fully digest the true consequences of this amendment and how it will hurt gays and lesbians and our families. We will not give up.

Many states lost tonight far worse than we did. To come as close as we did is certainly a moral victory. But this loss is harder on us in Oregon. In part, it's harder because after defeating three statewide ballot measures, we know what it feels like to win.

But it's also harder for us because we know more than any other state that faced this amendment this year WHAT WE ARE BEING DENIED.

So many of us have made huge sacrifices for the right to be equal and the right to have our relationships recognized, or to help others take their rightful place in our state.

And we aren't going to let tonight's defeat stop us.

Here's what I know: you don't get civil rights by sitting around waiting for them to fall in your lap. You don't get them without sacrifice and risk and pain. We are paying that price now. This is a painful setback. But on the road to equality and freedom, there are always setbacks. There are always sacrifices. There are always moments that seem like they are too much to bear, and times when we give so much of ourselves that it seems too unbelievably cruel when we don't prevail.

This is one of those times. But I want you to look around you, at the good people who are in this room, and I want us to think about all the people of this state who have stood with us. And I want you to think of the many, many people who have changed their minds because of our work on this campaign. All of those who were able to question their assumptions, to open their hearts, to walk in someone else's shoes.

If we say now that it's just too hard to keep fighting, then we are turning our backs on all of those victories. We can't do that.

This campaign has been a learning experience for all of us, and for all Oregonians as well. We may not have gotten a majority tonight, but all the momentum on this issue is going our way.

Because of our work, social attitudes on same-sex marriage are shifting daily. I have no doubt that if this election were held a week from now that we would have won.

Look how far we've come. A year ago, how many of us would have dreamed that same sex couples would marry in our lifetimes? How many of us would have thought that Oregon would be ground zero for this issue? Have no fear our children will find the idea of banning same-sex marriage as inconceivable as the idea of banning inter-racial or inter-faith marriage.

We will remember this moment, because it will be impossible to forget the pain of this loss.

But we have to dust ourselves off and get back on our path. There will be future victories and there will be future defeats. But our victories will always outnumber the defeats, because we are on the side of true love. The true love we feel for our same sex partners, the true love we feel for our family and friends who deserve the right to marry, the true love we feel for this state and this country, both of which have always stood for freedom and equality. True love cannot be defeated, and although we may not have won at the polls tonight, we know that the love that we have shown throughout our entire campaign has changed this state.

Tonight, let's celebrate what we've accomplished, and let's support each other in this painful moment. And tomorrow, we'll get back out there and continue this fight, in the courts, in the legislature, and everywhere we need to be. Let's stick together and see this through until we win, for all of us, and because we believe in Oregon. --Roey Thorpe