Group files lawsuit challenging same-sex marriage ban

[truthpusher]

http://www.katu.com/news/story.asp?ID=74556

January 31, 2005
Group files lawsuit challenging same-sex marriage ban

SALEM, Ore. - Basic Rights Oregon on Monday filed a lawsuit challenging the state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, arguing the ban revises the fundamental principles of the Oregon Constitution rather than merely amending it.

Oregon voters overwhelmingly approved the ban last November as the state joined 10 others to write a specific ban on gay marriage into state law during the national election.

The Oregon Supreme Court, meanwhile, is considering how to rule on a separate lawsuit Basic Rights filed last year seeking to preserve about 3,000 marriage licenses issued last March to gay and lesbian couples in Multnomah County.

A judge ordered the county to stop issuing the licenses after a challenge by the Defense of Marriage Coalition, the same group that put the gay marriage ban on the statewide ballot.

complete story:
http://www.katu.com/news/story.asp?ID=74556

[TaleWgnDg]

1. Here's more . . .

.
"Monday, January 31, 2005
Oregon rights group challenges amendment banning same-sex marriages
Amit Patel at 2:16 PM


"(JURIST) Attorneys for Basic Rights Oregon (advocacy website) filed a lawsuit Monday challenging the constitutionality of Measure 36 (official text), a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage approved by Oregon voters that states 'It is the policy of Oregon, and its political subdivisions, that only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or legally recognized as a marriage.' The group claims that Measure 36 violates the fundamental principles of liberty and justice on which the Oregon Constitution (official text) is based because it restricts the role of the courts in interpreting the constitution. It also says that the measure creates multiple changes to the constitution and therefore should have been proposed as multiple amendments. The group argues voters must approve separate amendments with separate votes. Read the Basic Rights Oregon press release and more about the lawsuit (DOC). Read the http://www.basicrights.org/downloads/news/JRL-S1703_000.pdf">complaint (PDF). AP has http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_013105_news_gay_marriage.61a8bb59.html">more (registration req'd)."

. . . more at http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2005/01/oregon-rights-group-challenges.php
(University of Pittsburgh (PA) School of Law, professor and law school students online legal news)

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