Churches won't see a petition drive this year on gay rights laws

By JOHN FORTMEYER
CNNW publisher
    SALEM — Christians seeking to overturn Oregon’s two new gay rights laws say a state court has prevented any possible election this fall on one of those laws, but they still hope a federal court might very soon mandate a fall vote on the other law.
    Homosexual rights advocacy groups rejoiced last month when the Christian groups Concerned Oregonians and Let Oregon Vote acknowledged that there was too little time left for statewide signature gathering in churches and public sites to place Initiative 145 on this November’s statewide ballot to repeal Senate Bill 2. That law bans discrimination against homosexuals in work, housing and public places.
    The reason for the lack of time, according to the Christian groups, is that the state Supreme Court waited until June 27 to announce action on the attorney general’s certified ballot title for Initiative 145. They say that prevented petition gathering from getting underway statewide; at least 82,769 valid signatures from Oregon voters would have been needed by July 3 to place the initiative on the ballot.
   “The court simply ‘ran out the clock’ to deny the voters of Oregon the opportunity to participate in their constitutionally protected democratic process,” said Salem resident Craig Myers, spokesman for Concerned Oregonians. “On June 10, after seven weeks of inaction by the court, Concerned Oregonians and Let Oregon Vote ended their preparations for a 2008 campaign ... The decision to suspend the 2008 campaign was falsely trumpeted by some of the media as a sign of public disinterest.”
    In a June 10 e-mail to campaign supporters, David Crowe of Concerned Oregonians said he was certain the campaign would have met the signature requirement by deadline, had it been able to proceed.
   “There is no doubt that if the Oregon Supreme Court had acted ‘expeditiously’ as the law directs, Concerned Oregonians would have gathered well over 100,000 signatures by the July 3 deadline, and Oregonians would have been given the opportunity to vote on at least one of the two most culturally devastating bills in Oregon history,” he wrote.
    But a blog for the Portland gay newspaper Just Out cited factors other than the court, including “sloppy ballot initiative authorship” by the chief petitioners; lack of funding by the Christian activists, and the continued efforts of the gay rights support group Basic Rights Oregon and the American Civil Liberties Union to oppose the campaign.
    Jeana Frazzini of Basic Rights Oregon noted that news of the Christian campaign’s inability to proceed came just in time for Portland’s homosexual community’s annual Pride weekend, which took place June 13-15.
  “We all deserve a celebration,” Frazzini wrote on Basic Rights Oregon’s website. “We are proud of all of our efforts to overwhelm their message of divisiveness and bigotry with our message of compassion and justice.”
    She and Crowe are agreed, however, that the Christian groups have one remaining path to this November’s ballot. The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on July 8 will hear an appeal of a federal judge’s Feb. 1 rejection of a lawsuit that sought to block implementation of state House Bill 2007 — the state’s new domestic partnership law.
    That lawsuit had been filed on behalf of several Oregonians by the Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based Christian legal action agency. The lawsuit alleged that the secretary of state and several different county clerks wrongfully rejected valid citizens’ petition signatures for last year’s referendum that sought to allow voters to decide the domestic partnerships issue.
    If the federal appeals court agrees with the appellants, it could order a statewide vote on repeal of the domestic partnership law to take place as soon as this November.
    Frazzini pledged that her group would continue “to do everything in our power to keep discrimination off the ballot and prepare for any challenges that come our way.”
    In turn, Crowe promised that “the battle for God-ordained marriage, morality and the family will continue in Oregon.” He said a mailing list of more than 60,000 Oregonians has been developed for future efforts and that petitioning will likely be resumed for a 2010 vote to repeal both gay rights laws if a vote this November on House Bill 2007 doesn’t occur.
    Myers said people interested in volunteering for the effort for a 2010 vote can sign up at concernedoregonians.com.