March 23, 2004
Charter Review Committee Votes 'No' On Defining Marriage
Amendment Was Proposed Two Weeks Ago
Well, we seem to have missed putting this meeting on our schedule. We forgot that Multnomah County's Charter Review Committee tonight was to take up the matter of a possible Charter amendment. What happened is reported on the news page of Basic Rights Oregon:
The Multnomah County Charter Review Committee tonight voted to NOT refer a charter amendment banning same-sex marriage to the November ballot in Multnomah County. Basic Rights Oregon saw this as a mean-spirited attempt on the part of County Commissioner Lonnie Roberts and the Defense of Marriage Coalition to try to punish the four other commissioners who support marriage equality, and to make us fight this local measure in the fall while probably fighting a statewide measure as well.
This was the follow-up meeting to one in early March at which the office of Commissioner Lonnie Roberts pitched the proposed Charter amendment.
At that meeting, the Committee referred the matter to a sub-committee which would report back tonight. Apparently, we forgot to add that to our calendar of events.
Regardless, and as BRO indicates in their hearings document (Word), this is the second recent hearing on matters related to the controversy which has resulted in a win for supporters of same-sex marriage.
Last week, the Citizen Involvement Committee of Multnomah County refused to consider a related resolution and Charter amendment recommendation.
Later this week, the first of a series of public hearings on the County's same-sex marriage position will be held at the Multnomah Building. Both sides in the debate are gearing up.
"Our opponents are working equally hard to take these rights away, and they are having no trouble turning out people who want to take away our civil rights," says Basic Rights Oregon in the above-linked hearings document. "We need to show up in large numbers so that no one has any doubt how many people care about this issue."
"The homosexual advocates are showing up in force for these meetings," says the opposition, in an alert found via the Christian Coalition of Oregon. "Please help take a stand for righteousness."
That opposition has thus far put in a fairly poor showing at recent public discussions (although we don't know if they turned out at tonight's Charter Review Committee session). We'll see on Thursday, at the first public hearing before the Board of Commissioners, if they've decided to try harder.