03:48 PM PST on Wednesday, March 3, 2004

By JIM PARKER and ABE ESTIMADA, kgw.com Staff

While Multnomah County officials have decided for now that gay marriages are permissable under Oregon law, the voters of the state may get a say on the matter this fall.

Gay marriage opponents last month filed four versions of a proposed initiative that would clearly define marriage as between a man and a woman, said Christian Coalition of Oregon executive director John Belgarde said.

AP San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom stands between newlyweds, Cissie Bonini, left, and Lora Pertle, during a reception at San Francisco City Hall, Friday, Feb. 13, 2004.

The initiative campaign was initially sparked by a Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling that gay marriage must be allowed under that state's constitution and a decision by San Francisco's mayor to conduct gay marriages in California.

But Belgrade said Multnomah County's decision now to allow gay marriages certainly helps make his case that Oregon voters need to define marriage.

The county’s decision cheapens the institution of marriage defined by God as a union between a man and woman, Belgarde said. Belgarde made it clear he doesn't dislike gays but said the definition of marriage is unquestionable.

“It saddens me because what’s the next step?” he said. “The old cliché -- it’s a million years old -- let the camel's nose into the tent, and you wake up, and you have a camel laying beside you. There’s truth to that."

Although four initiatives were filed with the state Elections Division, it is likely that proponents will seek to put only one on the ballot. Initiative proponents often file different versions of the same initiative, hoping to get the most favorable language in the ballot title.

Belgrade told kgw.com on Wednesday that he's confident the Christian Coalition and its allies will gather enough signatures to place one of those initiatives on the ballot in November. Belgarde believes Oregonians will throw their support behind his initiative.

Two of the proposed Oregon initiatives are statutory, which need 75,630 valid signatures. The other two are constitutional, which require 100,840 signatures.

Gay rights advocates, who have successfully defeated three anti-gay rights initiatives in Oregon from 1992 to 2000, said they would fight the initiative.

"We will make it our top priority," Roey Thorpe, executive director of Basic Rights Oregon said recently. "This is an unfortunate and mean-spirited attempt to divide people in Oregon, to deny gay and lesbian people and their families important civil rights. And it smacks of political opportunism."

(The AP contributed background to this report.)