TWO BATTLES OVER GAY MARRIAGE, TWO DIFFERENT OUTCOMES: From the Boston Globe

As the gay marriage issue erupted nationally this spring, elected officials favoring same-sex marriage in Oregon and Washington adopted contrasting strategies in the pursuit of their goal so far with sharply different political consequences.   

In Oregon, where in March supporters of gay marriage pushed forward aggressively by issuing licenses to same-sex couples in the state's largest and most liberal county, a powerful political backlash has developed that could lead to the adoption of a constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage. In Washington, proponents moved more cautiously, inviting gay advocacy groups to sue to overturn existing marriage laws, and the resulting political fallout has been far more muted. ...        

But the political reaction [in Oregon] has been strong. Supporters of traditional marriage, working through a network of churches, submitted on June 30 a record 244,587 signatures backing a constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage, well over twice the number required to put the issue before voters on the November ballot.   

"It's been quite a reaction," said Tim Nashif, spokesman for the Defense of Marriage Coalition, which collected the signatures in only five weeks. "We went from zero to marriage in an hour," he said, ascribing the intensity of support for a constitutional amendment to the lack of public debate before the commissioners pressed forward. "They tried to bully the process."   

A majority of Oregon voters disapprove of gay marriage, according to a March poll conducted by Portland-based independent pollster Tim Hibbitts. "I found a 3-to-2 majority against," he said. "We're not radically different from the rest of the country. There was no huge groundswell of support for gay marriage outside Multnomah County."   

Even Oregon gay-marriage advocates acknowledged they were taken aback by the level of support for a constitutional amendment. "We were really surprised at the number of signatures they turned in," said Rebekah Kassell, spokeswoman for Basic Rights Oregon, which pressed the commissioners to begin issuing licenses and which plans to raise $3 million to fight the proposed amendment. "This is the fight of our lives here." ...

In Washington, by contrast, where state law clearly forbids gay marriage--the Legislature passed the Defense of Marriage Act in 1998--proponents have moved incrementally, crafting two lawsuits they hope eventually will result in a state Supreme Court judgment supporting gay marriage.   

In early March, as gay couples lined up to marry in Portland, Ron Sims, the executive of King County, which includes the liberal enclave of Seattle and its suburbs, responded to intense pressure by constituents who support same-sex marriage by publicly refusing to issue marriage licenses while privately inviting gay-marriage advocates to sue the county in an effort to overturn the law.   

In a meticulously planned exercise in political theater designed to invoke, and reverse, the imagery of the civil rights movement, Sims, an African-American, on March 8 briefly barred the way of six carefully selected couples approaching the licensing office door before inviting them into the building. Inside, each asked for and was denied a marriage license.   

Sims then joined gay-marriage advocates at a news conference afterward, where representatives from the Northwest Women's Law Center and Lambda Legal, a gay rights group, announced that they were suing Sims and the county on behalf of the couples.   

"When I was a kid, I remember Governor [George] Wallace [of Alabama] standing at the door with his arms folded. It was important to me to open the door to these couples seeking to be married," Sims said in an interview. "We felt our strategy in the long run was the most sensible strategy. We were able to say, 'Let the courts interpret the constitution in the state of Washington.'"   

more

posted by Eve at 3:11 PM | link

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home