PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Gay couples in Oregon will be allowed to register as domestic partners, a federal judge ruled Friday.

AP Graphic

U.S District Judge Michael Mosman lifted a temporary injunction he imposed in late December, just days before the domestic partnership law approved in the 2007 legislative session was due to take effect.

In his ruling, Mosman rejected arguments made by an attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund, a group backing Christian legal issues.

The group's lawyers had argued that county elections clerks had improperly disqualified voter signatures collected during a drive to refer the domestic partners law to the November 2008, ballot.

The referendum drive fell 96 signatures short of the 55,179 needed to refer a law passed by the legislature to the ballot.

Alliance Defense Fund lawyer Austin Nimocks argued that a signature on a petition should be given the same weight as a signature on a ballot, and that elections officials should have made more of an effort to contact voters whose signatures were disqualified.

But Mosman sided with lawyers for the state and Basic Rights Oregon, the state's largest gay rights group.

Officials said the domestic partnership declaration forms will be available starting February 1.

Forms are on the Web. Link

After February 1, forms can be obtained via mail from the DHS Center for Health Statistics, Attn: Mary Ann Jensen, 800 N.E. Oregon St., Suite 225, Portland, OR 97232; or by email at Mary.ann.jensen@state.or.us.

The forms cost $20 for a first copy and $15 for each additional copy ordered at the same time.

(KGW Reporter Dave Northfield contributed to this report)