A conservative legal group had requested the delay to give voters a chance to weigh-in with a ballot referendum in November 2008.
By Monisha Bansal
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=2822 in the state starting on January 1.
A conservative legal group had requested the delay to give voters a chance to weigh-in with a ballot referendum in November 2008.
Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) filed a lawsuit in federal court on Dec. 3, 2007, against the Oregon secretary of state and several county clerks after those offices invalidated voters’ signatures to place a referendum on the ballot to overturn the http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=815 law.
ADF claims the state “wrongfully” invalidated 254 signatures. Judge Mosman has scheduled a February 1 hearing in the case.According to the bill (HB 2007), Oregon “has a strong interest in promoting stable and lasting families, including the families of same-sex couples and their children. All Oregon families should be provided with the opportunity to obtain necessary legal protections and status and the ability to achieve their fullest potential.”
The bill also states that this can be achieved “by extending benefits, protections and responsibilities to committed same-sex partners and their children that are comparable to those provided to married individuals and their children by the laws of this state.”
However, the bill would not legalize same-sex “marriages” in the state of Oregon. “The Legislative Assembly recognizes that the Oregon Constitution limits marriage to the union of one man and one woman. The Legislative Assembly does not seek to alter this definition of marriage in any way through the Oregon Family Fairness Act and recognizes that the Legislative Assembly cannot bestow the status of marriage on partners in a civil union.
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