Court ponders: Should Oregon yet vote on rejecting controversial law?

By JOHN FORTMEYER
CNNW publisher
   PORTLAND — The latest legal showdown takes place here early this month in Christian activists’ ongoing effort to see a statewide vote this fall on overturning one of Oregon’s new homosexual rights laws.
   Following U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman’s Dec. 28 issuance of a temporary injunction keeping Oregon’s domestic partnership law for gays and lesbians, House Bill 2007, from taking effect Jan. 1, Mosman will on Feb. 1 hear a lawsuit by the law’s opponents challenging the state’s methods for verifying voter signatures.
   The hearing, where the immediate fate of the new law will be determined, will be in federal court in Portland. The lawsuit was filed Dec. 3 by attorneys for Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal action agency, against the Oregon Secretary of State and elections officials in 12 counties.
   The lawsuit contends that those offices wrongfully invalidated voters’ signatures on a citizen referendum. If sustained, the referendum would place onto this November’s ballot an option for voters to repeal the domestic partnership bill that was passed by the state Legislature last year and signed into law by Gov. Ted Kulongoski.
   Mosman’s injunction did not affect a companion state law that took effect Jan. 1 to ban discrimination against homosexuals in work, housing and public places.
   Advocates of the new laws were stunned by Mosman’s decision to grant the temporary injunction on House Bill 2007, and vowed vigorous efforts to see the law go into effect as soon as possible. On its website, Basic Rights Oregon, a pro-homosexual group, said it would “take every available legal action and be aggressively involved in righting this wrong. Make no mistake — Basic Rights Oregon will continue to be there every step of the way until same-sex couples have the rights and protections of domestic partnerships.”
Opponents of the law were delighted by Mos-man’s action, but emphasized it was but one skirmish in an ongoing battle.
  “Friday, December 28th, in a federal courtroom in Portland,those in attendance saw what God can do when His people believe His Word, pray accordingly, and take action,” wrote David Crowe of Restore America and Concerned Oregonians in an e-mail to supporters. “You filled the courtroom, outnumbering our opposition 10 to 1. Per your prayers that the Spirit of God would confound the minds and arguments of the opposition, He answered.
“But the war is not over. February 1st is the next court date in Judge Michael Mosman’s court, and it will determine whether HB 2007 is placed before the voters of Oregon in November, or whether we must wage another (initiative) campaign to restore our right to vote on such a culturally devastating bill.”
   The lawsuit claims that signatures were improperly invalidated by elections officials in the 12 counties for various reasons. Though the number of signatures for the referendum submitted to state officials execeded the required 55,179 by more than 6,000, the secretary of state 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, the referendum was only five signatures shy of gaining access to the ballot.
   The statewide signature campaign last summer was an effort coordinated by several Christian groups, including Concerned Ore-gonians, represented by Crowe of Restore America, and Defense of Marriage and Family Again, with former state Rep. Marylin Shannon of Brooks as spokesperson.
   Should the lawsuit fail to promptly get the referendum placed on this November’s ballot, the Christian groups are prepared to start a new signature drive. They say they are well positioned to do a new campaign, even though it might require as many as 100,000 signatures.
   A copy of the lawsuit can be seen at www.telladf.org/UserDocs/LemonsComplaint.pdf.