The courtroom battle between supporters of Oregon’s postponed domestic partnership law and an out-of-state Christian legal defense group will begin today at the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse.
The passage of House Bill 2007 last year legalized domestic unions between same sex couples, which granted those couples many of the same rights and protections as married couples.
The law was supposed to take effect on Jan. 2, but the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund filed a lawsuit with the state that has put the domestic partnership law in limbo for the past month.
Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed the bill into law on May 9, but shortly thereafter a number of citizens put together a petition drive against the law.
The group needed 55,179 signatures to put the issue to a public vote on the November ballot, and they exceeded the requirement by turning in 60,531 signatures.
State and county elections officials used a computer-generated, random sampling method to determine the number of invalid signatures, and with more than 5,000 rejected names, the petition failed.
The ADF took up the cause of a group of citizens complaining their signatures were erroneously thrown out, and they filed a lawsuit against the state.
U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman set the Feb. 1 date for both sides to argue whether the signature validation process was legal, or if the signatures were incorrectly thrown out.
The gay and lesbian rights group Basic Rights Oregon has spearheaded the effort to implement the law and back the state’s signature verification process. Spokeswoman for BRO Karynn Fish said their lawyers have informed them the trial could last anywhere from one to two weeks.
Most of the testimony has been submitted by affidavit, and handwriting experts will be called to verify signatures, Fish added.
The hearing will be open to the public, and it is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. on the 16th floor of the courthouse, located at 1000 SW 3rd Avenue, Portland.
Domestic partnership hearing will begin today in Portland
Daily Emerald
February 3, 2008
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