Thankfully, Just Out Blog is keeping their ear to the ground for the rest of us with their “Repeal Watch”–monitoring the progress of anti-gay groups efforts to repeal Oregon’s equality laws: the Oregon Family Fairness Act and the Oregon Equality Act. The individuals behind the repeal efforts have 56 days left to raise enough money and gather enough signatures to meet their deadlines and requirements.
But, Oregon is not out of the woods yet… from Blog Out:
“The clock of fate ticks ever louder for “Concerned Oregonians.”
The anti-equality political action committee behind three currently filed petition initiatives designed to repeal the Oregon Family Fairness Act and the Oregon Equality Act continues to wait out an ever-narrowing window of opportunity to jumpstart their petition drives.
The first two filed repeal initiatives - IP 144 and IP 145 - are held up in an appeals process to the Oregon Supreme Court, and the third, IP 146, has just received a final ballot title from Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers, though it is likely that final ballot title will also be appealed to the state Supreme Court, further holding up the petitioning process. Petitions cannot begin circulating for the initiatives until final decisions from the Oregon Supreme Court have been handed down on those appeals.
After a passioned e-mail plea to supporters sent April 24 from Concerned Oregonians founding father David Crowe - in which Crowe stated that the organization needed to raise $25,000 by May 1 and an additional $50,000 by June 1 in order to adequately support their initiative endeavors - the organization received a flurry of donations.
But the total received between Crowe’s appeal and May 2 fell far short of their stated goal, with only $3,705 in new donations coming in to the organization. Of that amount, only two individuals came in at the maximum donor level of $500… According to records with the Secretary of State Elections Division, this still leaves the organization $2,623.54 in the red.
In spite of these setbacks, there are signs that Concerned Oregonians is preparing for a brutally short signatures fight as soon as the petitions are approved. The organization has identified 27 churches, businesses and individual community leaders eager to spearhead petition drives in hubs around the state, and continues to solicit additional volunteer assistance through various “hub leaders” in cities like Astoria, Beaverton, Medford and Pendleton.
Whether that relatively small, but continually growing, assemblage of statewide anti-equality cohorts can churn out 82,769 valid signatures by July 3 for any petition once approved is, for now, an open question.
Beginning this week, Just Out will be starting a regular series both on Blog Out and in the Just Out street edition called “Behind The Curtain,” shining a light on the individuals, businesses and churches involved in organizing and fundraising for the current repeal initiatives. Check back in frequently as the series gets started.”
domestic partnership
Marriage & Relationship Recognition
GLBTTags: gay rights, oregon equality
{HUGS}!!
