 Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski is congratulated by former Gov. Barbara Roberts after signing bills prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and establishing legal recognition of same-sex relationships. (Photo by Ross William Hamilton) |
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Posted on 05/11/2007 9:22:30 AM PDT by Incorrigible
| Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski is congratulated by former Gov. Barbara Roberts after signing bills prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and establishing legal recognition of same-sex relationships. (Photo by Ross William Hamilton) |
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PORTLAND, Ore. — Cattle rancher Margene Eiguren, 62, is disappointed that Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed bills into law this week protecting gays against discrimination and granting them many benefits of marriage through domestic partnerships.
Eiguren sees the laws as defying the spirit of Measure 36, the constitutional amendment state voters approved three years ago, declaring marriage legally valid only between a man and a woman.
"Same-sex marriages are wrong,'' she said. "Domestic partnership is a fancy name for same-sex marriage.''
Many Oregonians share her views. The depth of opposition was reflected in the thousands of telephone calls and e-mails that legislators received when the bills were debated.
The Oregon Family Council, a Christian group that led the fight against the bills, on short notice summoned 500 pastors to Salem to lobby against them, said Tim Nashif, the group's political director. Rep. Diane Rosenbaum, D-Portland, chair of the House committee that held public hearings on the bills, received more than 1,000 calls and e-mails. Some were so threatening that she was escorted to and from public hearings by state troopers.
But since the bills passed, calls and e-mails from both supporters and opponents have dwindled to a trickle.
That raises the question of whether there is sufficient momentum among opponents to put the two measures before voters in the November 2008 election. To do so, they must collect 55,179 signatures from registered voters within 90 days after the Legislature adjourns.
The Oregon Family Council proved it has the clout to organize a referendum with its successful campaign to put Measure 36 on the ballot. But the council says it will not organize a referral effort against the new laws.
Jack Brown of Grants Pass, chairman of the Constitution Party of Oregon, says he and other members will. They are forming an independent committee to file with the Oregon Secretary of State by Monday, he said.
The group sees the anti-discrimination bill as granting special rights to gays and lesbians. And domestic partnerships fly in the face of Measure 36, Brown said. The bills represent "a flagrant violation of the public trust by elected representatives,'' he said.
Marylin Shannon, a former Republican state senator, said she and other opponents may also launch a referral effort.
Basic Rights Oregon, the state's largest gay-rights group, is bracing for such a challenge, said spokeswoman Melissa Chernaik. Members of the group were among more than 100 people, including legislators and former Gov. Barbara Roberts, who watched and applauded Wednesday as Kulongoski signed the bills on the west steps of the Capitol. The governor said the bills "transform our state from one of exclusion to one of complete inclusion.''
The laws are set to take effect Jan. 1.
It's not clear how Oregonians would vote on the laws if they got the chance, said Tim Hibbitts, an independent pollster in Portland. A poll taken for The Oregonian newspaper in 2004 showed about a third of voters supporting same-sex marriage and another third supporting civil unions or domestic partnerships for gays, he said.
"I suspect as long as it is not defined as marriage, you could get a majority of Oregonians to support'' the domestic partnership law, Hibbitts said. "If people who oppose it say this is marriage by another name, that may send up a red flag for voters.''
Oregonians rejected measures aimed at restricting gay rights in 1992, 1994 and 2000, and most Oregonians probably would also support a ban on discrimination, Hibbitts said. But again, he said, if opponents define the ban as special rights, "that could erode support considerably.''
Oregonians are divided by age and geography over gay-rights issues, with support being markedly stronger among young and urban residents.
Nashif, of the Oregon Family Council, asserts that more Oregonians than most people think have deep moral concerns about the new laws. Many opponents, he said, see the bills as government sanction of a behavior they believe is wrong, he said.
Mary Lee Brady, 75, who owns a small farm in Springfield, expressed that concern. The laws are "contrary to God's word, and his word is true,'' she said.
Meanwhile, Basic Rights will prepare for battle, Chernaik said. If the laws aren't referred to voters, then the group will focus on helping employers and residents understand what the laws mean. Always on the horizon, she said, is the group's ultimate quest for full equality for same-sex couples, which is to say, marriage.
"For the moment,'' she said, "we accomplished what we set out to accomplish.''
(Bill Graves is a staff writer for The Oregonian of Portland, Ore. He can be contacted at billgraves(at)news.oregonian.com. Dave Hogan of The Oregonian contributed to this article.)
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Yet another Democrat circumventing the will of the people.
Related thread on the governor of Oregon.
[Oregon] Governor Tries Food Stamps, Eating On $3 A Day
They have not figured out that you cannot legislate away attitude, you can only channel it differently.
What do you mean?
The elected legislature passed it, and the elected governor signed it.
If the voters don’t like it, they should have voted for someone else.
I was referring to “Measure 36.”
But yes, you are correct, Oregon residents get the government they deserve.
They will instruct businesses and residents, huh? I wonder what this help will entail, re-education camps?
"Same-sex marriages are wrong,'' she said. "Domestic partnership is a fancy name for same-sex marriage.''
That's absolutely right. That's all it is. They are the same thing with different names.
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