It’s amazing how an issue like gay marriage brings out some of the worst governmental instincts in some of our politicians. The issue now has to do with Oregon’s SB 1000, a civil unions and sexual-orientation non-discrimination bill which has passed the Senate 19-10 and now sits in the House, waiting for a vote (I blogged about this earlier).
But the bill is stuck at the desk of House Speaker Karen Minnis, a Republican who is a vocal opponent of gay marriage. She refuses to let the bill come up for a vote, which most activists believe would pass in the House. Polling shows that 49% of Oregonians support civil unions, compared to 30% opposed. The state’s only Fortune 500 corporation, Nike, has issued formal support for the bill. The state’s governor, Ted Kulongoski, introduced the measure and is personally calling for a vote on the bill.
Why is Minnis refusing to let the people’s representatives vote on a bill that the people seem to support? Minnis has decided that the bill is unconstitutional because of Oregon’s passage last year of Measure 36, the amendment to define marriage as between one man and one woman enshrine anti-gay discrimination in the state constitution.
(SouthernVoiceOnline) But a spokesperson for House Speaker Karen Minnis (R-Wood Village) said this week the bill, SB 1000, will not surface for a floor vote in the Republican-run state House since it attempts to overrule the state measure approved last November.
“She will not bring the bill to the floor, because the bill effectively creates marriage by another word and runs counter to the will of the people,” said Charles Deister, a spokesperson for Minnis.
The state constitutional amendment, Measure 36, defines marriage as only between a man and woman. It won approval Nov. 2 with 57 percent of the vote.
Hmmm… one Oregon elected official decides that she has the right to interpret the state Constitution and thwart the will of the people regarding the legal status of homosexual unions… why does that sound so familiar? Oh, yes, it’s because that was the same exact type of reasoning Multnomah County Commissioner Diane Linn used when she decided to start marrying gay couples last March.
“As you may know, the county attorney recently provided her legal opinion stating that it is a violation of the Oregon Constitution to discriminate against individuals who apply for marriage licenses on the basis of their gender or sexual orientation.
“What this means is that this county will comply with the constitution and will issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples who request them. I took an oath of office to uphold the constitution of the state of Oregon. I intend to do just that.”
So when the queers started marrying and the national spotlight focused on Oregon, the reactionary conservatives screamed foul in the Oregonian’s letters to the editor.
“…it sounds like this decision was reached behind closed doors… That is not how major public policy decisions get made in… Oregon,” one Portland resident complained.
“Apparently Multnomah County officials feel compelled to jump into the activist legislation-from-the-bench mentality and issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples,” wrote a Lake Oswego resident.
A Newberg man wrote “The job of the county commissioners is to oversee the operation of the county, not to abuse their power by jumping into the culture war of the day.”
All this outrage led to a recall effort against Diane Linn for overstepping her responsibilities as a commissioner and abusing her position to forward an agenda regarding gay unions. House Speaker Minnis even weighed in on the recall effort:
“That’s why some of those (county) commissioners are up against a recall effort,” said House Speaker Karen Minnis, R-Wood Village. “It makes a citizenry angry when government appears to be arrogant. When objections are raised, they say, ‘Too bad, we’re smarter than you.'”
Later, when the Supreme Court forced Multnomah County to cease its homo-marryin’ ways, House Speaker Minnis was overjoyed. She was quick to point out how Linn’s actions were against the will of the people and how one person should not be able to thwart the democratic process. She also promised that the Oregon House would continue to work through the issue of fairness for the state’s gay and lesbian population:
“I am heartened that the court upheld the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman, while reversing the rogue and illegal actions of Multnomah County.
“The House will consider the legitimate questions of fairness brought up during the debate on Ballot Measure 36, while upholding the will of the voters.”
Of course, one critical difference between Linn and Minnis is that Linn was usurping an authority she did not have, whereas Minnis is just abusing the authority she does have. As Speaker of the House, it is Minnis’ job to schedule the votes on measures that pass through the House.
Minnis’ argument is that SB 1000 goes against the will of the voters who approved Measure 33 by a 57% vote. Her view (and the talking point pushed by the Right) is that SB 1000 is creating “marriage by another name”:
Tim Nashif, political director for the Oregon Family Council, also said he doesn’t think most Oregonians in the survey understood that the Senate bill is worded so broadly and amends so many existing statutes that the civil unions would be “marriage by another name.”
Yeah, see, the people are just ignorant rubes that are being fooled by the wording of a poll. What was that about “too bad, we’re smarter than you,” Speaker Minnis?
The family group instead supports a “reciprocal benefits” bill that gives some benefits to all couples who can’t legally marry — such as same-sex couples as well as relatives — because it does not use sexual orientation as a “litmus test” for certain legal rights to families.
Yes, reciprocal benefits, that wonderful separate-and-unequal legislation the Right put out to compete with the civil unions bill. It has the benefit of refusing to acknowledge sexual orientation (so we can keep discriminating against the fags) plus the benefit of limited rights not equal to marriage over end-of-life decisions and property, while still denying pension benefits, insurance benefits, parenthood rights, citizenship rights, and many other rights and privileges that married couples (or civilly-unified couples under SB 1000) automatically receive. Best of all, the “reciprocal benefits” can be terminated on short notice by either partner, especially if one decides to “turn” straight and get a real marriage, and the other partner has no legal recourse for support for him/herself and their children.
Nasif also questioned the civil union bill’s non-discrimination portion.
“It includes bisexuals, transsexuals, cross-dressers — and puts them in the same category as African Americans. We consider that problematic,” Nashif said.
Yeah, problematic indeed! Before we had laws against African American discrimination, we could deny their rights, deny their votes, fire them from jobs, not hire them, force them to use different facilities and entrances, prevent them from marrying whites, and generally beat them and harass them without much interference, all because they were “different” and because of widespread public support. You could even call them “nigger” or “colored” in public without anyone raising an eyebrow. Gosh, if SB 1000 passes, uptight sanctimonious bigots won’t have anyone left to abuse anymore!
Ugh. The whole issue makes me nauseous. It’s sad enough that people got so hung up over the word “marriage” that Measure 33 passed and SB 1000 is required to give at least “separate-but-equal” protection to taxpaying Oregon citizens. But now to have Speaker Minnis decide “the will of the people” all by herself after excoriating Commissioner Linn for doing the same thing last year, well, it’s a level of hypocrisy that would be noteworthy, were it not in the shadow of hypocrisy juggernaut that is the Bush maladministration*
Feel free to tell Speaker Karen Minnis what you think:
Speaker Karen Minnis
900 Court St. NE, Room 269
Salem, OR 97301
Phone: 503-986-1200 — Fax: 503-986-1201
E-mail: [email protected]
* See, it knew it wouldn’t take long before I started bashing Bush!
