Comments on: Oregon Supreme Court Voids Over 3,000 Lesbian and Gay Marriages

By: Kim (basement variety!)

Kim (basement variety!) — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 20:54:04 +0000

Actually just the opposite. The constitution could be interpreted that couples could be same or opposite sex but must be consenting adults. The Oregon 36 Law that occurred at the hands (and lies) of the Defense Against Marriage folks changed our constitution to define marriage as one man/one woman, adding the descrimination.

By: Brad

Brad — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 20:23:57 +0000

I added the qualifier because i know people will assume I am against it due to the comment I made.

I am not from Oregon, but it is my understanding ( which could certainly be wrong) that there was nothing to say that same sex partners could be issued licenses.

By: Kim (basement variety!)

Kim (basement variety!) — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 20:17:07 +0000

Are you even from Oregon, Brad? There was no ignoring of the laws. Something tells me you felt it was wrong - being that you had to add that qualifier to begin with.

By: Brad

Brad — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 19:33:17 +0000

Regardless of homosexual marriage being right or wrong. It was illegal for those marriage licenses to be given out. I f homosexual marriage is to be truly legal, it has to be done by modifying the laws, not by ignoring the laws.

By: Bryan Boyd

Bryan Boyd — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 18:56:56 +0000

Hey all - we are all sad about this ruling. Friends of mine started a mini-revolution with their Multnomah County marriage license refunds. Married couples that just had their marriages terminated are donating the $60 cost to Basic Rights Oregon to support further legislation and lobbying. If all 3,021 couple did it that would be well over $180,000! I personally did not get married but in an act to support my friends who did I donated $60.

If you are interested visit http://www.basicrights.org - there should be a donate button on the top.

Together we can really turn this terrible day into progress. Basiclly $60 - to say F off to the “Defense of Marriage Coalition”.

By: Terry

Terry — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 18:23:17 +0000

It’s classic 1984 Double-Speak, reminiscent of the “pro-life” and “culture of life” monikers; if they can redefine the basic terminology of the debate in their favor, they believe they can control the outcome. Anti-gay discrimination is no more “Defense of Marriage” than anti-woman and pro-gun stances are “pro-life,” but as long as the media plays along and uses their twisted definitions, they continue to win. We have to fight semantics–it’s the beachhead of the war.

By: Josh Jasper

Josh Jasper — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 14:17:19 +0000

Nashif argues that little … if any … discrimination occurs against gays and lesbians in Oregon.

OK, I think we can safley disreguard anything this man says as utter tripe.

By: Charles

Charles — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 11:17:49 +0000

Absolutely. That one month in Multnomah county was the only period I have been relatively free of shame at being married. The people who hate gay marriage are the same people who love coveture and decriminalized marital rape. They just don’t feel free at the moment to speak openly about what marriage means to them (okay, the Southern Baptist Convention does).

There was something I ran across, maybe it was the Times crappy obit for Dworkin, that attributed a quote to her that “Marriage was a license for legalized rape,” as though this were some ridiculously over the top radical position. If she said it in the late eighties, it was literally true in most of the country. If she said it in the late nineties, it was still true in 13 states. Today it isn’t literally true in the US, but don’t think for a moment that the plenty of the same people who think anti-discriminiation laws are unnecessary and encourage frivolous lawsuits think that laws that make raping your spouse a crime are unnecessary and encourage frivolous criminal complaints.

By: Kim (basement variety!)

Kim (basement variety!) — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 08:50:49 +0000

I love my husband with all my heart, but we both agree that it’s days like this we feel shame in being associated with the members only group we once referred to as marriage. Shame on them. Shame, shame, shame.