Oregonians fight for “natural marriage”

Hmm… it seems that equality minded Oregonians are not the only one’s crossing their fingers after the July 8, 08 hearing awaiting the fate of Oregon Domestic Partnerships! It is not like I didn’t full well know this, but it was still at little unsettling to read an article talking about the “pro-family activists” and their take on this whole process.

What is this hubbub about “natural marriage”? And why aren’t WE (who are hoping that Oregon’s Domestic Partnerships will stand) pro-family activists? We are fighting for acknowledgment and protections for all of OUR families!

Anyway, here is the article below. No surprise that “Concerned Oregonians” and concerned Arizonans–I mean James Dobson–I mean “Alliance Defense Fund” are beating this tired old drum–I mean at the heart of this fight.

“Oregon voters are hoping the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will uphold their efforts to protect natural marriage.

When pro-family activists began collecting petition signatures for a ballot initiative to repeal Oregon’s domestic partnership law, they had no idea how their opponents would keep the issue from appearing on the 2008 general election ballot. Craig Myers with the group Concerned Oregonians says several county clerks simply invalidated perfectly legal signatures. “And in the case of Marion County and Jackson County, we brought eight people in. If five of those had been validated, then we would have been on the ballot for 2008,” Myers explains. “But we believe that the liberals have been in charge of the executive branch for so long that they feel that they have latitude to do whatever they please.”

Myers notes that valid, registered voters were dismissed in other counties that he had already contacted. “We had accompanied them to make their case at the clerk’s office, providing proof of who they were and extraordinary evidence, including the document that they signed, saying, ‘This is the document that I signed that you invalidated. Here’s my signature; here’s my address. You can see my driver’s license. There’s no dispute as to who I am, and you’ve made a mistake. You’ve invalidated my signature improperly,’” he adds.

The group sued, but the federal district court ruled in favor of the clerks and secretary of state that the disenfranchised voters have no legal right to have their petition signatures counted. Myers hopes the appeals court will overturn that ruling.

“If we get a favorable ruling in time, which would be sometime this month, then we can be placed on the November ballot. If not, then even a favorable ruling won’t do us any good,” Myers contends. “And, of course, if we get an unfavorable ruling, then I think it sends a signal to Oregonians of the price that they pay for having the wrong elected officials in office – both in the legislature and in the executive branch.”

Meanwhile, Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) attorneys have filed suit on behalf of the disenfranchised voters. According to an ADF press release, senior legal counsel Austin Nimocks and fellow attorneys are appealing the federal judge’s ruling. “Oregon voters deserve to be heard on this referendum. More than enough Oregonians signed it,” Nimocks contends. “The people didn’t thwart this effort; government bureaucracy did – and that’s not a good reason to toss aside one of the most important rights Americans have.”

Nimocks says he was forced to file the lawsuit, Lemons vs. Bradbury [PDF], after several county clerks rejected the petition signatures. “Our country is founded on the basic principle of government of the people, by the people, and for the people,” Nimocks adds. “It should stay that way in Oregon.”

Myers says if the court rules against them or does not rule in time to allow them to have Referendum 303 to appeal on the November 2008 ballot, his group will return with another initiative to repeal the domestic partnership law in 2010.”