Civil-unions deadline today
SALEM, Ore. – A year ago, a judge gave legislators 90 days from the start of the 2005 session to adopt a civil-unions law, or Multnomah County would be allowed to resume issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
That deadline is today, but the state Department of Justice says it is not enforceable.
Further, Multnomah County officials say they have made no plans to resume issuing marriage certificates to same-sex couples after today’s deadline passes.
The issue arises from Multnomah County’s issuance of marriage licenses to nearly 3,000 gay and lesbian couples in March 2004 before Circuit Judge Frank Bearden put a stop to the practice.
In his ruling, Bearden set the 90-day deadline for the 2005 Legislature to fix the problem by adopting a civil unions law.
However, in November, Oregon voters amended the state constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman.
Kevin Neely of the Oregon Department of Justice said the November vote had the effect of nullifying the judge’s 90-day order.
“Judge Bearden’s order is, if not moot, then certainly unenforceable, based on the constitutional measure,” Neely said in an interview Thursday with the Statesman Journal newspaper.
The Oregon Supreme Court, meanwhile, is expected to rule soon on a challenge of the state’s marriage law.
The legal limbo has kept Senate Democrats from pushing bills that create civil unions and advance gay rights.
“We didn’t want to move forward on the civil-union issue until a Supreme Court ruling,” said Senate Majority Leader Kate Brown, D-Portland. “And we were working on the assumption that it would be before the 90-day window closed.”
With no word from the Supreme Court, Brown is finishing a civil-unions bill that she plans to introduce next week.
Republican leaders in the House also are waiting for the Supreme Court’s decision, said Chuck Deister, spokesman for House Speaker Karen Minnis.
“It’s presumptuous until we hear from the court,” he said.
Many others are also waiting for word, including officials in Multnomah County who granted licenses to 3,022 same-sex couples last year.
The county isn’t planning any action before the Supreme Court’s ruling, said Bob Gravely, spokesman for Multnomah County Board Chairwoman Diane Linn.
However, he wasn’t sure what officials will do if same-sex couples appear Monday to apply for licenses.
“I’m pretty confident in saying that we have not planned for that,” Gravely said.
Portland attorney Kelly Clark, who is representing the sponsors of the constitutional gay marriage ban in the case before the Supreme Court, said he thinks the court will issue its ruling soon.
“I would be stunned if Multnomah County concluded that under these circumstances, anything should happen,” Clark said.
The state’s leading gay rights group, Basic Rights Oregon, was hoping for a ruling before the 90-day deadline, and isn’t sure what the deadline’s passing means, spokeswoman Rebekah Kassell said.
“This is already a muddy legal situation, and this certainly adds to that,” Kassell said.