March 22, 2004

(Updated) Benton County Suspends Issuance Of All Marriage Licenses

Move Affects Opposite-Sex And Same-Sex Couples Alike

Note: This post has been updated. Any and all updates appear at the end of the original post.

We should have known that Monday would not pass by without at least one sudden and breaking news story related to Oregon's debate over same-sex marriage:

Benton County commissioners voted Monday to postpone issuing marriage licenses to everyone -- not just same-sex couples -- until a court decision is made on whether gay marriages in Oregon are legal.
Benton County Commission Chairwoman Linda Modrell said the commission was respecting a request from Attorney General Hardy Myers.
"We ask for the public's patience with this temporary inconvenience," she said.

Readers may recall that we recently wondered if Multnomah Coutny itself would choose this path in the wake of the Attorney General's legal opinion. As it turned out, they chose to continue issuing licenses to all couples. Now, Benton has chose the other "equality" path, choosing to not issue licenses to anyone.

Personally, we are rather pleased that someone chose to make the statement in that manner, in addition to the choices that have been made here in our home county of Multnomah.

We await reaction from the same-sex marriage opponents to this latest piece of legal and political decision-making.

March 22, 2004

Update

For the moment, we are assuming that the request from Hardy Myers in fact is the following statement from his Friday announcement of the "case management agreement" to speed the issue to the Oregon Supreme Court:

Today, citing the agreement for expedited resolution, Myers urged every county, uncluding Benton County, to defer issuing any marriage licenses to same-sex couples at least until the Multnomah County Circuit Court can rule on the constitutional issues.

Which Benton has now done, although probably not quite in the manner which Myers had in mind.

March 22, 2004

Update

According to an OPB Radio report, "A hearing on a request by the Defense of Marriage Coalition to stop Benton County from issuing same sex marriage licenses has been cancelled."

March 22, 2004

Update

KOIN's 6:00 PM newscast reports that Hardy Myers is "pleased" with Benton County's decision. And the current KGW story has this:

"The decision ensures that marriage licenses will not be issued in violation of Oregon statutes in Benton County," Myers said Monday in a prepared statement. "I thank the commissioners for delaying action now that we have agreed on expedited proceedings in Multnomah County."

It also has comment from Benton County and reaction from Basic Rights Oregon.

March 22, 2004

Update

Over at BRO's news page, they have this:

Observers, however, speculate that the motivation for the change was that Myers threatened to sue the county if it proceeded as planned. Myers sent Benton County commissioners a letter stating that the state was "well-positioned to initiate a lawsuit were they to proceed as proposed," said Myers' spokesman Kevin Neely.

Be that as it may, it's still ballsy of the Benton County Commissioners to choose the option they did. It's especially interesting that the one Commissioner who originally voted against Benton issuing same-sex marriage licenses (over legal process objections, not same-sex marriage objections) was quoted by KGW today as saying; "I am comfortable with the decision to cease issuing marriage licenses to anyone until such time that the constitutionality of state law ... has been decided."

March 23, 2004

Update

Meanwhile, the Defense of Marriage Coalition says that it will not drop its lawsuit against Benton County. "We have no intention of dismissing this lawsuit," said Ray Cihak. "It is clear that the commissioners have no intention of following the statute, and we need to remain ready to respond if they renew efforts to issue same-sex marriage licenses in Benton County."

March 23, 2004

Update

An Associated Press story reports that after Hardy Myers' threats of legal action against Benton County, the Commissioners were advised by lawyers that the state might try to arrest the County Clerk if same-sex marriage licenses were issued.

March 23, 2004

Update

There's more OPB News coverage, with explanatory comment from the Benton County Commissioners.

Posted at 05:26 PM | PermalinkComments (2) | TrackBacks (1)
More In Law Enforcement & Legal Issues, Same-Sex Marriage, State of Oregon

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Comments (2)

  1. M on 22 Mar 2004

    I, too, am glad that at least one county chose this option. Although I'm much more glad that Multnomah County made its choice.

    I like that this decision:

    a) Treats all families equally.

    b) Complies with state law, as written.

    c) Complies with Article I, Section 20 of the Oregon Constitution, as recently interpreted.

    d) Makes a straight person think, "That's some gall they have!"

    e) Let's a gay person say, "Glad we agree."

  2. Jack Bog on 23 Mar 2004

    The Oregon DOJ? Actually arrest someone? Bwahahahaha.

Trackbacks (1)

  1. Location, location, location on 23 Mar 2004

    Why is Attorney General Hardy Myers willing to sue Benton County to stop it from issuing same-sex marriage licenses, but not willing to sue Multnomah County? It couldn't be because Multnomah County hired the AG's former law partner to provide