auflusl 5. 2005 ’ jUSt OUt , 3
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T he E nd of the L ine
for S enate B ill
1000
Basic Rights Oregon enters information-gathering phase
Careful and energetic handling of
all your home financing needs
MORTGAGE
J Advocates
by Sarah Dougher
he spirit of the crowd July 20 was
Supporters were again thwarted by Minnis,
high; more than 800 supporters of who seemed to use every legislative trick in the
Senate Bill 1000 gathered on the btxik to avoid what she knew to be not only a
north steps of the Capitol in Salem contentious but possibly successful attempt to
to demand Oregon House Speaker create basic civil rights protections for queers
Karen Minnis hold a vote on the civil
unions
around
Oregon.
legislation.
Minnis then went ahead and changed a 140-
Gov. Ted Kulongoski was there. Portland year-old rule in the House that would have
City Commissioner Sam Adams was there. allowed lawmakers to take any bill out of com­
Basic Rights Oregon director Roey Thorpe was mittee for an up or down vote, thereby cement­
there. People had driven from as far away as ing her own nile over the majority.
Bend and Ashland.
Both Republicans and Democrats were dis­
Yet the following day, instead of bringing the heartened by the speaker’s actions. “This move
bill to a vote, Minnis undertook what is called a flies in the face of the will of the majority and
“gut and stuff,” basically taking the text out of standard parliamentary rule,” said Rep. Steve
March, D-Portland. “This is a
tyranny move, and 1 oppose
such a move. It is not appro­
priate to do this.”
Rep.
Billy
Dalto,
R-Salem, added: “I want to
note my concern about this
rule change. I am very sorry
that it had to come to this.”
T
W hat T hen , Y ou M ay
W onder , I s N ext ?
Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski speaks forcefully to
his support for civil rights.
I’mAVAILABLE,,,
whenjjot/ are!
After a year of quick deci­
sions and roller coasters of
emotion on a variety of issues
affecting the lives of queer
Oregonians, the staff at BRO
has entered a phase in which
they hope to gather informa­
tion and create a plan to
move forward.
the crowd about
Spokeswoman Rebekah
Kassel said: “We’re not going
to make a concrete plan until we know what
we’re dealing with.... We will go forward with a
well-thought-out plan that involves a broad
base of consensus."
In the coming months, BRO will undertake
the hill and substituting the old reciprocal ben­
efits text.
Then, she referred the bill to the House Bud­
get Committee without discussion or debate.
“Policy” bills like SB 1000 don’t generally find
their home in a
budget commit­
tee, but the bill
was placed there
in order to cir­
cumvent
any
possibility of it
reaching a vote.
Nevertheless,
in an effort to
keep the spirit of
the bill alive,
House
Dem­
ocrats
intro­
duced a new bill
aimed at creat­
ing civil unions
and prohibiting
discrimination
based on sexual The guys in ties are our friends: Sens. Ben Westlund (left), R-Tumalo. and Alan
orientation and Bates, D-Ashland. stand among the more than 800 people gathered in support
gender identity of SB 1000.
in
housing,
employment, public accommodations and pub­ a broad survey of its members and the public, in
addition to holding strategy sessions with a vari­
lic services.
Sponsored by Rep. Mary Nolan, D-Portland, ety of people, to get initial thoughts and consid­
House Bill 3508 was also drafted, similar to civil erations before moving forward. If you would
union legislation in Vermont, to broaden appeal like to keep up to date and participate in this
by including “reciprocal benefits” for those indi­ process, contact BRO via its Web site,
viduals not eligible for a civil union or marriage. www.basicrights.org. |M
G7(M)SW 105th Ave., Suite 200 Beaverton, OR 97005
Toll Free (877) 8269900 Fax (503) 297-0824
E-Mail: colleenw@intgadvocates.coin www.mtgadvocates.com
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