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Oregon Supreme Court to hear gay marriage final arguments
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The fate of nearly 3,000 marriage licenses issued to gay and lesbian couples is up to the Oregon Supreme Court when it meets Wednesday to hear a case that began with a decision by Multnomah County last March to become the first county in the nation to authorize same-sex unions. The court could decide that voter approval of a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage renders the case moot and the licenses are invalid. Or it could ask the Legislature to consider civil unions as an alternative. Or it could order counties to allow the existing marriage licenses to stand. A ruling is not expected until next year, and likely will not be the final word. The highest court in Massachusetts had already ruled gay marriage should be allowed when Multnomah County decided to allow same-sex unions, and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom had actually performed weddings. But it was a decision by four women on the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners that officially opened the door to couples who had waited years to formally recognize their relationship. Gays and lesbians flocked to county offices on the east side of the Willamette River to line up for a marriage license, until a judge ordered the county to stop just a month after it began issuing them. Same-sex couples and the American Civil Liberties Union then filed a lawsuit that contends banning same-sex marriage violates the state constitution. Last month, however, Oregon voters joined voters in 10 other states to approve a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Attorney General Hardy Myers has found himself caught in the middle of the dispute, arguing the amendment renders the ACLU lawsuit moot only if the Oregon Supreme Court rules the only issue that matters is whether same-sex couples can marry. Myers says that if the court decides to proceed with the ACLU lawsuit, it should also rule on whether equal benefits are required for same-sex couples. But he recommends the court should defer to the Legislature to craft a law that protects those benefits. Kelly Clark, the attorney for the Defense of Marriage Coalition, argues the licenses were never valid in the first place. Approval of the gay marriage ban in November, which took effect on Dec. 2, simply confirmed the intent of the authors of the Oregon Constitution when they drafted the original marriage law that Multnomah County challenged a century and a half later, Clark said. |
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