March 04, 2004
Other Oregon Counties Now Debating Same-Sex Marriage
Caution, Charter Types Restrict Options
Turning again to The Oregon Blog, Jeff offers a link to a News-Review story:
Marriage licenses for same-sex couples aren't available in Douglas County. And they won't be even if Attorney General Hardy Myers decides that gay marriages are legal in Oregon, Douglas County Commissioner Dan Van Slyke said this morning.
The county is prepared to defy any order from the state mandating the issuance of marriage licenses to gay couples, said Van Slyke, speaking as chairman of the three-member Board of Commissioners.
For what it's worth, Van Slyke mischaracterizes the issue as being about Oregon's statutory definition of marriage. Thankfully, the article points out that Multnomah County based its conclusion on the Oregon Constitution's prohibition against offering privileges in a discriminatory way to one class of citizens but not others.
Meanwhile, KGW reports on other counties:
The Jefferson County Board of Commissioners, meeting in an emergency session Thursday afternoon, declined to follow Multnomah County's lead and grant same-sex marriage licenses.
...
While lawyers for Jackson County issued an opinion that found there was a "legitimate legal argument for Multnomah County actions," commisioners asked their legal staff to withdraw the opinion and decided to wait for the the state attorney general to weigh in on the issue.
Jefferson County's clerk is reported as saying that a most coutny clerks have "received legal advice to follow state law regarding the issuing of marriage licenses as it has been interpreted in the past." She also explained that many counties in the state don't operate under "home rule" the way Multnomah County does -- which means the Commissioner in those other counties cannot simply direct their clerks to alter policy on issuing marriage licenses.