← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · albion
Thread ID: 17786 | Posts: 3 | Started: 2005-04-15
2005-04-15 01:11 | User Profile
Oregon Voids Same-Sex Licenses (Page 1 of 2) [url="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/14/national/main688175.shtml"]http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/14/national/main688175.shtml[/url] SALEM, Ore., April 14, 2005
(CBS/AP) Supporters and opponents of gay marriage are reacting to the Oregon Supreme Court's decision to nullify thousands of same-sex marriage licenses that had been issued in one county last year.
The state supreme court ruled that Multnomah County had no right to issue the nearly 3,000 licensees.
Eric Warshaw says he and his partner are "devastated." His marriage was the first between two males in Multnomah County.
However, the head of the Oregon Family Council and the Defense of Marriage Coalition says it's a "travesty" is that Multnomah County commissioners "took the law into their own hands."
Tim Nashif says the couples shouldn't have assumed anything about the validity of their marriages until the state Supreme Court ruled.
The court said while the county can question the constitutionality of laws governing marriage, they are a matter of statewide concern so the county had no authority to issue licenses to gay couples.
The ruling was simply a matter of jurisdiction between state and local authority, CBS News Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen.
"From this ruling you gather that the Oregon court would not have permitted these licenses to stand even if the voters of the state hadn't passed a constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage after the case was filed," Cohen said.
The court noted that last November, Oregonians approved a constitutional amendment that limits marriages to a man and a woman. The court also said that long before that vote, state law had set the same limitations on marriages since Oregon became a state.
"Today, marriage in Oregon ââ¬â an institution once limited to opposite-sex couples only by statute ââ¬â now is so limited by the state Constitution as well," the court ruling said.
The court left the door open for state legislators to craft an alternative to gay marriages, such as civil unions.
"We conclude that Oregon law currently places the regulation of marriage exclusively within the province of the state's legislative power," the court said.
Nashif, head of the Oregon Family Council and the Defense of Marriage Coalition, said, "We're pretty thrilled and pretty relieved at the opinion."
Members of the Legislature have been awaiting the ruling to give them guidance on how to proceed on the issue, and just Wednesday, Gov. Ted Kulongoski said he will push for a law allowing gay couples to form civil unions.
For now, proponents of same-sex marriage theoretically can try to appeal this ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, Cohen said.
"But there is absolutely no reason to think that the Justices will be interested or willing to hear the appeal at this time," he said. "Its much more likely that the issue will have to brew in state courts around the country for years and years before it percolates up to the High Court."
2005-04-15 01:19 | User Profile
[size=3]Kansas Backs Gay Marriage Ban[/size]
[url="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/05/national/main685831.shtml"]http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/05/national/main685831.shtml[/url]
(CBS/AP) Voters in Kansas overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment Tuesday banning same-sex couples from marrying or entering into civil unions.
With 97 percent of the vote reported, 395,468, or 71 percent, voted "yes," and 163,766, or 29 percent, voted "no."
Meanwhile, [url="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/06/national/main685939.shtml"][color=#0000ff]Connecticut's Senate[/color][/url] was prepared to vote Wednesday on a bill that would allow same-sex couples to enter into civil unions. The bill has broad support in both Democratic-controlled chambers of the Legislature.
Gay marriage is already banned under Kansas law, and the law is not being challenged. But supporters of the ballot measure said the ban must be in the Kansas Constitution to insulate it from legal challenge.
Most voters appeared to brush aside critics' arguments that the amendment could have unexpected consequences, such as preventing companies from offering health benefits to employees' partners, gay or heterosexual.
"The way marriage is in the Bible, God says it's between man and woman," said Sharon Kent, 58, of the Kansas City suburb of Mission. "I don't have a problem with gays being together, living together, but I have a problem with them getting married."
Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said the vote was not surprising, given results in other states.
"What is appalling is the continued silence and inaction of people of faith and people of goodwill to speak out, to stand up to this wave of attacks against gay people," he said.
The Rev. Terry Fox, senior pastor at Wichita's Immanuel Baptist Church and a leader of the campaign for the proposal, said he expects opponents to challenge the amendment in court, though he is confident it will stand up.
"We always felt like if Kansans were given an opportunity to vote, they would vote strongly to protect marriage and defend marriage in the way it has traditionally been defined," Fox said. "The real winner here was marriage itself."
Republican state Attorney General Phill Kline had said the amendment was "an unfortunate, necessary reaction to activist courts."
Among the opponents was Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who said she supported the existing state law and viewed it as sufficient.
"I don't think we need a constitutional amendment, and particularly a constitutional amendment that goes far beyond the bounds of that law," she said.
Kansas becomes the 18th state with such a prohibition in its constitution. Alabama, South Dakota and Tennessee plan elections next year on constitutional bans, and proposals are pending in 13 other states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Vermont is the only state that recognizes civil unions, while Massachusetts allows same-sex couples to marry.
2005-04-15 02:15 | User Profile
So, what was the Federal Defense of Marriage Act that Klinton signed?
That doesn't over-ride Mass? Is it only for states to not be forced to recognize gay marriage in other states?