Homo Once Upon a Time…
posted by on May 9 at 18:38 PM
…only bad things came out of Oregon. Well, for queers at least. Lon Mabon, anti-gay rights initiatives, hate. Today Oregon leapt ahead of Washington state in the area of equal treatment for gays and lesbians.
Noting that it capped more than 30 years of work, Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed legislation into law this morning that will recognize same-sex unions as domestic partnerships and ban discrimination against gays and lesbians….More than 100 people watched and applauded as the governor signed the bills on the west steps of the Capitol, including former governor Barbara Roberts, many legislators and dozens of gay rights activists.
Nine other states and the District of Columbia have legally recognized same-sex unions by granting them at least some of the rights of marriage. In Oregon, a same-sex couple will register in their county to enter a domestic partnership contract that will give them all of the state benefits of marriage. It also gives them the responsibilities—including the possibility of having to pay child and partner support in the event of a dissolution.
As a native Oregonian, this is really weird. I remember wearing a "No on 9" pink-triangle button to middle school.
One of my friends at the time asked me why I wanted to support "special" rights for gays, one of the T.V. ad slogans at the time.
It's nice to see that those days are over.
Awesome! Congratulations Oregon.
Washington wake up!
what are the nine other states?
em @ 3,
Tons of info here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_unions
less than 3 years ago Oregonians approved a Constitutional Amendment against marriage. At least in Washington we only have a statute and that was put in place by the legislature (not that we wouldn't have voted the same). Does it make any sense for our current leg. to try to repeal that Doma now? since they put it into law in the first place? or would that trigger a statewide vote on a Con. Amend.? I would like to hope that the people of Washington are at least as progressive as those in Arizona who rejected it.
The constitution in this state is inherently difficult to change compared with most other states. You must have a 2/3 majority of both houses of the legislature then adoption by majority vote of the voters.
DOMA should be repealed. There may even be the votes for it in the legislature given the D's majorities, but it would put Gregoire and her 129 votes in a difficult pickle come re-election time.
As for marriage equality, pressure is building for this to occur in many different states, including ours. Because of the difficulties in getting DOMA incorporated into the constitution (hence why it's by statute) Washington will be in the initial group of states that pass such legislation on its own volition. However, this will take some time.
I believe the landscape will be vastly different 10 years from now just as it is compared to 10 years ago. We're making progress.
I still remember the commercials for measure 9. They were so horrible. I don't know which was worse, the one with the shocked and saddened kid who found out he had been given to gay men or the one with the "gay" guy saying gay people didn't need any "special rights."
I'm really happy my state is finally being progressive instead of highly conservative with a liberal candy coating.
It almost makes me want to turn on Lars, just to hear him cry about gays ruining his way of life.
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