Benton county Oregon approves gay marriage, part II

[RossMAN]

First it hit Multnomah county, part I.

Benton approves gay marriage

Benton approves gay marriage

Defying the state's nonbinding opinion, Benton County says it will join Multnomah County and issue licenses next week

03/17/04

MARK LARABEE

and ASHBEL S. GREEN

Benton County commissioners voted 2-1 Tuesday to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples beginning next week, a decision that caught all sides of a fractious debate off guard.

Benton joins Multnomah as the only counties in Oregon to approve same-sex marriages, broadening the fight over an issue that everyone expects to eventually be settled by the Oregon Supreme Court.

The decision is notable for several reasons.

First, it openly defies the attorney general and the governor, who last week urged counties not to follow Multnomah County's lead. Also, it suggests that Oregon is heading in the opposite direction from the rest of the country.

Last week, San Francisco halted issuing same-sex marriage licenses under a court order. Previously, jurisdictions in New Mexico, New Jersey and New York stopped giving marriage licenses to same-sex couples after state officials threatened to take legal action.

But in Oregon, more than 2,200 gay and lesbian couples have received marriage licenses in Multnomah County since March 3. On Monday, the county decided to keep issuing licenses despite the governor's request that it stop.

Linda Modrell, chairwoman of the Benton County Board of Commissioners, said Tuesday's vote came after a 21/2-hour meeting in which both sides of the debate were well represented, and it came against the advice of the board's attorney. She said commissioners read legal opinions from Vance Croney, Benton County counsel; Multnomah County; the legislative counsel's office; and Attorney General Hardy Myers, all of whom said the state law probably is unconstitutional.

Modrell said that although she went into the meeting thinking the county should wait until a definitive decision from the Oregon Supreme Court, compelling testimony changed her mind.

"If it's unconstitutional a month from now, it's unconstitutional today," she said. "That coupled with the example of Japanese Americans returning from World War II who were not allowed to own property. We don't need to wait to decide that kind of thing was wrong."

Gov. Ted Kulongoski said he is scheduled to meet this morning with Myers to discuss options for "expediting" the effort to get the issue before the Oregon Supreme Court. A spokesman for the Association of Oregon Counties said he knew of no other county planning to go against the attorney general's nonbinding opinion.

Counsel backs decision

Croney said he advised the Benton County board that state law prohibits same-sex marriage. Although the law has not been ruled unconstitutional, Croney said he told the board that it probably would be overturned if challenged.

"This is one of those issues where half the people are going to be displeased and that somebody would file some kind of a lawsuit regardless of where they stood on the issue," Croney said. "I think the board made a well-informed decision, and as their attorney, I will back them."

But Jay Dixon, the commissioner who voted against the decision, told The Associated Press that he thought the county was moving too quickly even though he expects the Supreme Court to eventually allow same-sex marriages.

Merry and Harry Demarest of Corvallis celebrated their 36th wedding anniversary Tuesday by testifying before the Benton County commissioners and a large crowd supportive of same-sex marriages. Harry Demarest shared the story of his uncle, who he said was married to a woman for two weeks but lived with a man in a committed relationship for 50 years after that.

"That's what should have been called a marriage," Demarest said. "His partner, his family, his friends and society would have been better off if that relationship had the certificate and the sanction of society."

County officials said they would begin issuing the licenses at 9 a.m. March 24.

Move surprises many

The vote was a surprise to those on the front lines of the fight over marriage rights for gays in Oregon.

Basic Rights Oregon, the lobbying group that was directly involved in the controversial behind-the-scenes discussion that led to Multnomah County's landmark policy shift, didn't send an official representative to the meeting because no decision was expected.

"Our gut reaction was yelling for joy all across the office," said Rebekah Kassell, the group's spokeswoman. "It's too bad no one was here to see all of us yelling and jumping around. We were completely caught off guard."

Tim Nashif of the Defense of Marriage Coalition criticized the commissioners for ignoring the governor's call for others not to follow Multnomah County.

"I think it's very unfortunate that they're taking the sacred institution of marriage, and they're using it like they'd use a political football," Nashif said. "Honestly, it's pretty ugly and pretty messy."

The legal fight is far from over.

Dave Fidanque, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, said further court action is likely in the coming days that will ensure the issue reaches the state's highest court. He said he went to the Benton County meeting Tuesday to testify on constitutional issues and tell commissioners "that they had the responsibility to make the constitution come to life."

"I think the commissioners were deeply affected by the testimony they heard today and made a courageous decision to say no to discrimination on the issue of same-sex marriage licenses," Fidanque said. "We certainly hope other counties will do the same."

Benton leaning more to left

Corvallis and Benton County certainly fit the mold of places where the battlefield over the gay marriage issue was likely to move. One of the other jurisdictions that briefly issued same-sex marriage licenses was New Paltz, N.Y., a small college town.

During the past two decades, Benton County's voters have made a clear political shift to the left, said Bill Lunch, a political science professor at Oregon State University. Statewide voting patterns from 1998, 2000 and 2002 showed Portland to be the state's most liberal city, followed by Eugene and then Corvallis, Lunch said.

He also said Benton County's core of moderate Republicans has been "alienated by the positions state Republicans have come to support," in particular a series of anti-gay measures that appeared on the ballot in the mid-1990s and 2000.

Natural resource jobs have given way to high-tech industries such as robotics and software engineering. The county's largest employers are now Oregon State University, Hewlett-Packard and a regional hospital.

"The people who work there are highly educated and not inclined to support intolerant views," he said.

Kevin Neely, a spokesman for the Oregon Department of Justice, said the state was still weighing its legal options.

"This doesn't change the state's course of action," Neely said. "Our charge is to identify the quickest and most effective route to the Supreme Court for a final decision that will unify the state."

Kulongoski told reporters Tuesday morning that there isn't much he can do to stop counties from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

"People keep saying, 'Won't you do this' or 'Do that,' " Kulongoski said as he was preparing to tour the new Hillsboro office of the anti-litter group SOLV. "Obviously, there are limitations of what any governmental entity can do.

"I'm not opposed to the public having a discussion about this all over Oregon," the governor said before the Benton County vote. "This is what's needed. I don't think this should be done in some secret process. The more transparent it is and the more the public can get involved and talk about this, the better off we're all going to be in the long term."