Court backs gay-marriage ban (Oregon)

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/113113231399190.xml&coll=7

A Marion County judge this morning upheld the constitutionality of a ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage.

Basic Rights Oregon, a gay-rights group, claimed that Measure 36 illegally revised the Oregon Constitution and violated the rule that initiatives contain only one amendment.

In a five-page decision, Circuit Judge Joseph C. Guimond rejected both challenges.

"It's straight-forward and common sensible," said Kelly Clark, attorney for the Defense of Marriage Coalition. "We might differ slightly with the judge on some of the reasoning . . . but he reached the correct result."

Guimond based part of his decision on a 1995 Oregon Court of Appeals ruling, which determined that a similar proposed same-sex marriage ban "would not result in the kind of fundamental change in the constitution that would constitute a revision."

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The plaintifs were arguing the amendment did not meet the criteria of Oregon's constitution when it was placed on the ballot.

Alas, the bigots among us also outnumber us.

We are a blueish state with a big red bow. This "law" passed for the same reasons irrational legislation is passing all over the country; the sheeple are scared of everything! Fear is historically the best tool of oppression. Emigration looks better every day! Hell, some of my legal Mexican friends at work are talking about heading home within the next five years to avoid what they feel is an inevitable crash in the American standard of living.