Just out., December 16, 2005, Page 21, Image 21

DECEMBER 16, 2005
JUStpUt 21
The crowd raises a glass at Basic Rights Oregon's anniversary party.
A Year in Marriage
Rights across the country and across the globe
by Bob Roehr
his is the decade of marriage for
supporters attend hearings on the measure,
the sexual minorities communi­
and no one believes its chance of passage has
ty. And while the roller coaster of
improved since the votes in Congress last year
ups and downs was not quite as
fell short. But look for the rabid right to push
rapid or dramatic as last year, it
for a vote next year in an attempt to use it as a
came as no surprise that the issue contin­
cudgel during the midterm elections.
T
ued to dominate the news of 2005.
Texas joined the swarm of states amending
Spain grabbed the headlines when the
their constitutions to ban gay marriage when
ruling Socialist Party moved to legalize gay
76 percent of voters in a low-turnout special
marriage. The Vatican threw a hissy fit
election in November said yes. It did not sur­
even ordered the cardinals into the street
prise those who knew that Texas continued to
along with the faithful. But that didn’t deter
ban interracial marriage and sodomy until the
the Cortes, which overrode a veto by the
upper chamber at the end of June, and
lavender wedding bells began to ring July 3.
U.S. Supreme Court said those practices were
From left, Multnomah County Commissioners Lisa Raito, Maria
Rojo de Steffey and Serena Cruz toast couples celebrating their
first anniversaries in March.
In Canada, the 2003 court ruling in
unconstitutional.
The message was more mixed from some
other parts of the country. In February,
Ontario in favor of same-sex marriage spread to other provinces, encompassing
a Manhattan court ruled that the law prohibiting same-sex marriage violated the
the entire nation by July 20. The vote of no confidence for the governing liberal
due process and equal protection clauses of the New York Constitution, but an
coalition has resulted in national elections scheduled for Jan. 23, and social con­
appeals court reversed that in December. All parties have long believed that the
servatives are sure to crank up their rhetoric against gay marriage in an attempt
matter will be resolved only by the state’s highest court, on final appeal.
to score points with the voters. However, polls suggest Canadians on the whole
have adapted rather well to the idea of gay marriage.
California seemed on the brink of enacting gay marriage when the Legislature,
after much political maneuvering and arm-twisting, passed the measure in
The United Kingdom has taken a slower approach with civil partnerships, which
September. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed it, leaving the matter to the courts.
are virtually indistinguishable from civil marriage, for same-sex couples. The meas­
A San Francisco judge had struck down the ban as having no rational basis in a rul­
ure finally made it through the House of Lords late last year and received a nod
ing in March, and that is wending its way through the appeals process.
from the queen. In February the government said it would take effect Dec. 21.
New Jersey and Washington also have marriage cases in the appeals process.
South Africa is set to become the first nation on that continent to authorized
The Connecticut Legislature tried to defuse the pressure for marriage by pass­
same-sex marriage. The Constitutional Court, the highest in the nation, has incre­
ing domestic partnership legislation. The response from the community has been
mentally increased the rights of same-sex couples and ruled Dec. 1 that it is un­
tepid; most gay and lesbian couples appear to be waiting for the real thing.
constitutional to deny the right to marry to gay people. Eleven judges ordered
The Massachusetts beachhead of marriage equality continued to deepen and
Parliament to amend marriage laws within the next year to include gays; the 12th
strengthen. Even politicians opposed to the idea began to soften after more than a
would have imposed the change immediately.
year in which thousands of gay and lesbian couples had wed.
Marriage traveled a decidedly rockier road in the United States in 2005, though
A September joint meeting of the Legislature, sitting as a constitutional conven­
at a modulated pace from the year before. It lacked both the exhilaration of wed­
tion, took a second look at a proposed state constitutional amendment to ban gay
ding ceremonies at San Francisco City Hall and the ensuing morning-after legal
marriage and decided to reverse itself and vote it down. That didn’t stop right-wing
clampdown in that city and elsewhere.
opponents who have submitted petitions to get the issue on the ballot in 2008. But
The renamed Marriage Protection Amendment to the Constitution, to ban gay
marriage, is a political zombie—dead but still somehow moving. Not even its
When an ordinary
Realtor simply
won’t do...
that has bought time, and polls show that public opinion is consistently moving to
favor allowing gay marriages to continue.
__
ffl SJ
3144 SE Belmont
Portland, OR 97214
office: 503-238-7617