07:29 PM PST on Friday, March 5, 2004

By ABE ESTIMADA, kgw.com Staff

Opponents of same-sex marriages delivered on their promise to file a suit that includes a request for an injunction ordering Multnomah County to cease issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples as early as next week.

Kelly Clark, center, reads a copy of the Oregon statutes saying marriage is a union between husband and wife. (kgw.com Photo)

Lawyers for a group of pastors and lawmakers opposed to same-sex marriage filed the suit in Multnomah County Circuit Court on Friday, three days after the county began issuing hundreds of marriage certificates to gay and lesbian couples for the first time in Oregon history.

Kelly Clark, a lawer for the Defense of Marriage Coalition, said he hopes that a Multnomah County judge will issue the injunction sometime next week.

“I don’t know what the effect of an injunction would be on the existing marriage certificates,” Clark said. “The logical consequence is if the actions of the county are illegal, they are void from the beginning, and everything that flows from them is void from the beginning.”

The Defense of Marriage Coalition said the suit is one that they had to file reluctantly. While they don't want to be cast as anti-gay, the coalition said they are outraged that Multnomah County Commissioners Diane Linn, Serena Cruz, Maria Rojo de Steffey and Lisa Naito broke Oregon public meetings laws to champion a political agenda that threatens the sanctity of marriage.

"Our concern is the institution of marriage, and how it's been defined through all civilization, and we do not feel that (a re-definition of marriage) should be done without any kind of public debate," said Tim Nashif, a spokesman for the Defense of Marriage Coalition.

The four commissioners, named in the suit, have said this week they violated no laws. They also said they were following two legal opinions that said it was unconstitutional for Multnomah County to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Kelly contends the commissioners skipped public debate and discourse to reach their decision, contrary to Oregon’s open meetings requirements.

They coalition is bothered that Oregonians who are in a quandary over the legality and morality of same-sex marriages weren’t given an opportunity to speak to the commissioners before their decision was made.

And they’re asking when, exactly, the four commissioners decided to change county policy on marriage licenses without a public hearing or public notification until after the first licenses were issued on Wednesday.

“It strikes us that what the commissioners have really done here is they have made a political decision, and then gone to their lawyers for cover,” Clark said at the Multnomah County courthouse in downtown Portland.

“Any other jurisdiction that I have ever seen in 20 years in Oregon law and politics (gets) rulings from courts,” Clark continued. “Courts make constitutional decisions, particularly on tough decisions with significant consequences.”

“The commissioners know this. These are not people new in government. They know how we do things in Oregon. Again, it was a round-about process designed for a specific political end.”

Commissioner Cruz said she had looked over the allegations in the lawsuit, and "on the advice of counsel, I don't have a comment."

She added: "I'm confident that my colleagues and I will withstand these specious claims."

Erin Lamb, right, and Joy Broussard, both of Portland, celebrate after being legally married at the Keller Auditorium. (AP Photo)

The American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon said the suit is nothing more than an attempt to mask an attack on gay and lesbian unions.

The ACLU, which was one of two groups that worked with the four commissioners on issuing the licenses, is confident that Linn, Cruz, Naito and Rojo de Steffey did not violate any laws.

“I think what happened, happened, and the commissioners made their decision, and it was the right decision to make, and I think people actually recognize that, and I think this (suit) is an attempt to obscure that,” said ACLU lawyer Kevin Choe, who said his group will defend the county.

Choe said the issue was not the decision-making process -- which he said followed the law -- but rather fairness to gay couples under the Oregon Constitution.

The suit seeks a total of four objectives. The coalition wants the court to find that the county violated Oregon open meetings laws by deliberating in secret and changing public policy without notification or input.

It seeks a declaration that Linn, the county chairperson, did not have the executive authority to make a decision to change policy on marriage licenses, therefore nullifying her decision.

The suit asks for an injunction that would require the county to stop issuing licenses to same-sex couples “pending resolution of the litigation.”

And the suit asks for a declaration that Oregon marriage statutes mean unions between a husband and a wife.

“We just want to follow the belief system, the value system of the people we represent, which we believe is the majority of Oregonians, (that marriage) is defined as a union between a man and a woman that is to last a lifetime,” said Nashif, the coalition spokesman.

By closing time Friday, the county had granted 1,237 marriage licenses since Wednesday morning -- many of them for gay and lesbian couples.

Other Oregon counties were reviewing state law but had so far declined to grant any same-sex applications.

Opposition also included the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland, which has denounced the Multnomah County marriage policy and urged commissioners to reconsider.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)