Letters cite effects of marriage-defining vote

PORTLAND – In fund-raising letters, the battle over gay marriage is beginning to take shape, with dire predictions on both sides.

If the measure barring the marriages fails, then public schools will be forced to teach homosexuality, supporters of the measure warn. If it succeeds, lawmakers will be forced to “write discrimination” into the Oregon Constitution, opponents counter.

Voters will decide the fate of Measure 36 on Nov. 2, when they vote on whether or not to amend the state constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman.

The Defense of Marriage Coalition successfully placed the measure on the ballot last week by drawing heavily on churches to collect more than 250,000 signatures. Meanwhile, a pro-gay rights coalition, calling itself the No on Constitutional Amendment 36, has picked up the mantle to fight the ballot measure, backed by Basic Rights Oregon, the state’s leading gay-rights group.

Both sides have begun crafting their arguments in recent fund-raising letters to potential supporters. These same arguments are expected to emerge as campaign themes this fall.

On one side, the letter from the Defense of Marriage Coalition warns that legalizing gay marriage will hurt children.

“Public schools will be forced to teach that gay marriage is equal to traditional marriage,” wrote Tim Nashif, the coalition’s political director, in a letter signed by him and two other coalition leaders. “More children will be denied a traditional family. It’s a proven fact that children do best when raised with a mother and a father.”

Although the No on 36 campaign has yet to do its first mass-mailing, the group’s supporters have sent out two requests for money – and both letters serve to outline the group’s key positions.

On July 16, gay couple Eric Warshaw and Stephen Knox, who were married this spring, sent a letter to the 2,961 other couples also married in Multnomah County.

“If it passes, this measure will jeopardize our marriage and set marriage equality back for years to come,” they wrote.