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11:31 AM PST on Thursday, March 4, 2004
Gay and lesbian couples lined up outside the Multnomah County building
for the second day in a row Thursday, after commissioners began allowing
same-sex unions by issuing marriage licenses to gays for the first time
in Oregon history.
Oregon's governor was quick to question the county's interpretation of
state law Wednesday and opposition began brainstorming ways to block the
same-sex marriages. A group called The Defense of Marriage Coalition
said it plans to file for an injunction Friday or Monday to try and
block the same-sex unions.
“I have never seen a political decision made in such an arrogant
fashion," said attorney Kelly Clark, a spokesperson for the group.
Record number of licenses issued Wednesday
Waiting in the cold and steady rain, hundreds of same-sex couples
circled the Multnomah County building in southeast Portland throughout
the day on Wednesday, waiting for the county to issue them a government
license certifying their marriage.
Every time a license was issued at the county office, people cheered. At
the close of business Wedneday evening, the county sold a record 422
licenses. The previous one day record for handing out marriage licenses
in the county was 68.
Multnomah County's license issuing also more than doubled the 180
marriage licenses handed out on the first day last month that they were
made available to gay and lesbian couples in San Francisco.
With licenses in their hands, some Portland couples wasted no time,
exchanging vows outside the county building on Hawthorne Boulevard.
Others overwhelmed the First Unitarian Church in downtown Portland to
tie the knot; the church said it needed an appointment to perform
ceremonies.
And more than 75 same-sex couples wed Wednesday afternoon at the Keller
Auditorium, normally the site of traveling Broadway shows. A line of gay
and lesbian couples inched their way up two flights of plushly
red-carpeted stairs to exchange their long-awaited vows.
Rabbi Ariel Stone-Halpern canceled her schedule so she could volunteer
to perform the marriages there, saying "I respect human love in all its
forms and reject dehumanization in the name of God."
Two more couples said they fulfilled life-long dreams of being married
when they were wedded by a former Oregon Supreme Court Judge on the
packed, 21st floor of the downtown Portland Hilton.
“I really do think things happen for a reason and the way that happens,”
said Portlander Mary Li, who married her partner of four years, Rebecca
Kennedy, at the Hilton. The two are also raising a baby daughter whom
they adopted.
“As a little girl, I grew up wanting the big white wedding with the
flowers and the train and all those kinds of things, and we may still go
there,” Li, 40, said. “But right now, this is the absolute perfect way
to happen, in every way, shape and form.”
The decision by most of the Multnomah County Commissioners to grant
licenses to gay couples wanting to be married opened the way for Li and
Kennedy and hundreds of other couples in Oregon to exchange vows.
While two, self-proclaimed street preachers spewed streams of vitriol at
gays and lesbians celebrating their partnerships with champagne and
bright flowers, commissioners Diane Linn, Lisa Naito, Maria Rojo de
Steffey and Serena Cruz explained that the county authorized the
granting of the licenses after their legal counsel and another
independent law firm determined it would be unconstitutional to deny
them.
At least two commissioners said they requested the legal opinion about a
month ago after being approached by gay rights groups.
Each commissioner said during a Wednesday morning news conference that
they were duty-bound to uphold the Oregon Constitution, which guarantees
equal rights under the law for all citizens regardless of their gender,
race or sexual orientation.
“I do join my colleagues, the three women behind me today, and give my
personal support for these basic rights,” said Linn, the county
chairwoman. “I do intend to celebrate the marriages that will occur
based on this decision today, and that is my spiritual position, also.”
The commissioners’ controversial decision added fuel to an increasingly
fiery debate about same-sex marriages in Oregon and across the country.
Linn said she’s already received “hateful” messages from some opponents
of the county’s decision.
And it already faces some opposition from the governor’s office to some
conservative Christian groups who are considering filing suit for an
injunction to stop these unions.
The commissioners, who represent mostly liberal Multnomah County, said
they sent copies of their legal opinion to other counties.
“It is our opinion that every single county in the state is responsible
for upholding the (Oregon) Constitution in the same manner as we are,
and that they must do the same thing that we did today,” Cruz said.
State may intervene
Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski directed the state attorney general’s
office to examine Multnomah County’s opinion. Attorney General Hardy
Myers said a review of the state's marriage laws was underway late
Wednesday and said his office would "endeavor to address these issues as
quickly as we can," although a decision from his office was not expected
before next week.
As for Kulongoski, a former Oregon Supreme Court Justice and state
attorney general -- he seriously questioned whether the county’s
interpretation of the state statute on marriage was valid.
"Reasonable people can differ, but I think when you read it (the state
marriage statute) at the time in history when the statute was written I
think it is clear they were thinking about a man and a woman getting
married," Kulongoski told reporters. “I think that was the purpose of
the statute."
County comes under fire
Perhaps equally controversial to Multnomah County’s decision to grant
marriage licenses was the method by which the commission reached its
decision.
Chairwoman Linn's decision came without an official vote from the four
other county commissioners — but with the explicit support of all but
one of the other elected officials.
"This is about a legal opinion," she told reporters. "I recognize that
this is a complex and controversial issue that can split our
community... but the county will comply with the constitution."
Kevin Neely, spokesman for Attorney General Myers, said the state had
received no advance warning or consultation from county leaders.
A newspaper editorial unloaded on the commissioners for not including
much of the public in its discussions on the marriage licenses. Notably
missing from the commissioners’ news conference on Wednesday morning was
Lonnie Roberts, who represents much of the more conservative region of
East Multnomah County.
Roberts blasted his fellow commissioners, saying he was never consulted
about the decision to issue gay marriage licenses. Roberts said he
didn’t learn of the county’s decision until Tuesday night when reporters
phoned him for comment.
“I felt that this was a clandestine approach to what should be open
government,” Roberts said.
Cruz admitted before reporters that she and the other commissioners left
Roberts out.
“We have lessons to be learned about this process,” Cruz said. “But we
value our relationship with commissioner Roberts…We didn’t work with him
on this one, but again, we will work with him on many (issues) in the
future.”
Oregon Republican Party chairman Kevin Mannix said it was “highly
unfortunate that Multnomah County commissioners have taken it upon
themselves to re-interpret 160 years of Oregon law and create a new
definition of marriage to include same sex couples.”
“This runs counter to the well-established legal principle in this state
that marriage reflects a committed relationship between a husband and a
wife,” said Mannix, himself a lawyer.
“If the commissioners want to redefine marriage, they should present a
proposal to the legislature or initiate a ballot measure. Ultimately
this issue should be referred to the ballot so that Oregonians can
decide for themselves."
Cruz defended what seemed like a quick decision to change Multnomah
County policy, which has long allowed civil unions but not gay marriages
until now.
"When we know a law is unconstitutional, it is our job to change it,"
she said.
The commissioners compared their decision to grant same-sex marriage
licenses to the Supreme Court’s decision in 1967 to throw out laws
barring interracial marriages.
“For all my life, I have worked to secure the rights of all people,”
commissioner Rojo de Steffey said. “I will continue that work. My sense
of justice and my Christian faith allow me no other course.”
Couples besiege county building
As the debate over gay marriages gets underway in Oregon, couples
waiting for licenses continued to line up outside Multnomah County’s
building in southeast Portland.
The first in the growing line of couples outside the county building to
get licenses was Christine Tanner, who won a landmark Oregon Court of
Appeals ruling in 1998 requiring all state and local governments in
Oregon to offer spousal benefits to the same-sex domestic partners of
their employees.
Tanner, a nursing professor at Oregon Health & Science University, said
she and her partner have been together for 19 years and raised two
children together.
"There are only so many big events in people's lives — birth, marriage
and death," said Tanner, who waited overnight in front of a county
office in a rainbow-colored lawn chair. "It's a big deal. For us, this
is symbolic."
Tanner, however, gave up her place in line to Bonnie Tinker, a longtime
gay rights activist and leader of the group "Love Makes a Family," who
said she has been with her partner for 26 years and have raised three
children together.
"It wasn't until recently that people were allowed to choose their
spouses," Tinker said, referring to past traditions and customs around
the world that include arranged marriages and prohibitions on
interracial marriages.
"People forget what a radical idea that is."
"I grew up Catholic — there were bouquets and bridesmaids and gowns and
churches," added Sandra Naranjo, 31, who sat in a lawn chair outside the
county building all night with her partner of 10 years to get a marriage
license. "But in the end, it's not about the wedding. It's about the
rights."
(The Associated Press contributed to this report)
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