Judge in US halts implementation of "domestic partnership" law

A federal judge in Portland Oregon granted a temporary injunction requested by pro-family activists, halting the implementation of a law that would see homosexual couples afforded the same rights and privileges granted to married heterosexual couples, reports John Jalsevac, LifeSiteNews.com. The law was set to come into effect on January 1, 2008.

The public interest legal alliance, the Alliance Defense Fund, filed a lawsuit on Dec. 3, 2007, against the Oregon Secretary of State and several county clerks, alleging that those offices had wrongfully invalidated voters' signatures on a citizen referendum. If allowed to go forward, the referendum would place onto the November 2008 ballot an option for voters to repeal the state legislature's domestic partnership bill, HB 2007.

ADF requested a temporary restraining order and a motion for preliminary injunction against the Oregon law, thus preventing the law from going into effect.

Judge Michael Mosman granted the requested injunction on December 28.

"Our country is founded on the basic principle of government of the people, by the people, and for the people. It is un-American that Oregon citizens are being denied the right to have their vote count in an important referendum," said ADF Senior Legal Counsel, Austin R. Nimocks.

According to the ADF, county clerks improperly invalidated numerous voter signatures. The ADF alleged that signatures were improperly invalidated for various reasons, including false determinations that signatures did not match their corresponding voter registration cards. Other signatures were excluded for voters allegedly not being registered, though in fact they were.

Though the number of signatures for the referendum submitted to the office exceeded the required number by more than 6,000, the Secretary of State publicly announced on Oct. 8 that there were not enough signatures to sustain the referendum. On Oct. 26, when the final results were certified by the Secretary of State, Referendum 303 was only five signatures shy of gaining access to the ballot.

Besides invalidating signatures that would have ensured that Referendum 303 made it onto the 2008 ballot, county clerks also failed to notify voters that their signatures had been invalidated, which notification is required according to regulations issued by the Secretary of State.

"The county clerks must fulfill their duty, which is to make sure that every citizen's legitimately submitted signature counts," Nimocks stated. "The right to exercise one's voice in the democratic process is a crucial one, and state and county officials must not infringe upon that right."

The effort to introduce homosexual "marriage" and, subsequently, "Domestic Partnerships" in Oregon has been ongoing for many years. In April of 2004, an Oregon state judge had to issue a ruling ordering the Multnomah County to cease issuing marriage licenses to homosexual couples, after that county began illegally issuing the licenses based upon the absence of any Oregon law strictly defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

Several other Oregon counties, including Benton county, also stated in 2004 that they would issue marriage licenses to homosexual couples. When lawsuits were subsequently filed against Benton county, Benton officials announced that they would not issue marriage licenses to any couples at all, citing "equality." In April of 2005, the Oregon Supreme Court was forced to nullify over 3,000 marriage licenses that had been illegally distributed by the Multnomah County.

While the nullification of the illegal licenses temporarily threw a wrench into the plans of pro-homosexual activists, this past May the homosexual lobby managed to have the Domestic Partnerships Bill 2007 passed by Oregon's senate. The law, which conscientiously avoids the term "marriage", but which would give homosexual couples all the same basic rights and privileges as married couples, was shortly thereafter signed into law by Governor Ted Kulongoski.

In the meantime, Judge Mosman has called a Feb. 1 hearing, where the immediate fate of the Domestic Partnership law will be determined.

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[01/03/2008]

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