March 28, 2004
The Dos And Don'ts Of Same-Sex Marriage In Oregon
Just a brief item today, unless something else crops up. Today's Sunday Oregonian included a pair of articles on same-sex couples who chose to obtain marriage licenses in Multnomah County and couples who chose not to do so -- the first of which has some statistics:
In the 2000 Census, 3,242 same-sex couples reported that they shared homes in Multnomah County. One-third of that number had marriage licenses by March 9.
Gay couples live in all but three of Oregon's 755 census tracts -- one in an unpopulated desert, one in remote Wallowa County and one in Klamath Falls. Nearly 5,670 same-sex couples reported living together in Oregon outside Multnomah County in the census; nearly one in 10 of that number received licenses in the first week.
...
The Oregonian's analysis found 1,722 couples received licenses by March 9. Most came from Oregon -- 85 percent -- and represented more than one-third of the state's cities. Another 14 percent crossed the Columbia River from as far as Blaine, Wash., on the Canadian border.
As with most things which end of humanizing the same-sex marriage debate, it comes as no surprise that many of the reasons given both for marriage and for holding off on marriage are the same as any of those one would tend to hear from opposite-sex couples.
That won't be news to readers here, we assume. But it's worth a read anyway.
Comments (2)
M on 29 Mar 2004
99 percent of couples came from either Oregon or Washington?
Jim Clay on 30 Mar 2004
I don't have any sort of official data on geographic distribution of the same-sex couples who have been licensed in Multnomah County. But as Basic Rights Oregon’s webmaster I’ve had electronic communication with many, many couples from outside Oregon. I’ve helped many make travel arrangements, and I’ve picked up my share of visitors at the airport. I’ve personally met couples from MN, OK, MO, CO, KY, NY, CA, WA who have been married here. Logistics during the first week or so of course favored Oregon couples. But lately we have seen a large influx of out-of-town guests. The Oregonian presented data for only the first five days of licensing, skewing the data to local couples. But we now are surely seeing a huge wave of visitors who are coming to Oregon to get married, and falling in love with our state. Today I uploaded a collection of personal stories sent to me by couples from Oregon and beyond, that say better than I could hope to summarize what the experience of marriage equality has looked like and felt like and how it has transformed lives. It’s worth checking out at www.basicrights.org/stories/storiesIntro.htm