If everything is going according to schedule, Multnomah County started issuing (or being authorized to issue; I’m not sure how the three day waiting period plays in to this) about twenty minutes ago. Congratulations to the soon-to-be newlyweds of Portland, and congratulations to the higher-ups in Multnomah County for having the courage to stand up for equal rights..
Tangentially related: --they wouldn’t do that, unless they were extras in a company of The Sound of Music. --FAKE NEWS!…
Yes! I’m proud of my city today. Such great news.
They’re waiving the waiting period requirement; I was down there this morning, and saw many couples get married on the spot. Sniff. :-)
Should we be starting a pool on the next place to start issuing licenses to same-sex couples?
Good idea Jake.
Unfortunately, we can exclude Seattle from that pool.
Lessee…how’s about…Maine or Arizona? (I’m pulling these out of my a** without knowing squat about their current laws.)
Lachlan,
Is Washington’s marriage=man+woman only thing a constitutional ammendment? If not, someone can challenge the constitutionality of it. Even if it is in the state constitution it can be challenged as breaking the federal constitution. If anybody is up to it. That goes for the 37 other states w/ the newly passed discriminatory laws.
I’m going to go for Chicago.
Next?
I would have gone down to see, but I was up till 5 studying. Supporting same-sex marriage firsthand is important but so are sleep and graduating.
Wisconsin – no DOMA passed in that state, and despite language insinuating opposite-sex marriage, there is no explicit ban on same-sex marriages, just the usual age, consanguinity, and polygamy restrictions.
Rhode Island – Chapter 15-1 indicates persons eligible to marry, which prohibits consanguinous marriages and bigamy, and 15-12, which establishes 18 as the minimum age. No mention of prohibiting same-sex marriages.
New Jersey – Chapter 37 – again, assumption of opposite-sex marriage but *no ban on same-sex marriage*.
Connecticut – Chapter 815 – ditto.
Good news from Washington state. The ACLU is challenging the prohibition on SSM in the state.
WOOHOO! Thanks for the update, Jake. ANd yes, I *believe* it is a Constitutional amendment. And yes, definitely, it can and should be amended to stop the exclusion. I just don’t think there is any pending legislation right now. Also, Gov. Locke has pretty much said “no chance in hell” when asked about repealing the DOMA.
And remember my mention of Maine? Check this out:
A prop was defeated (narrowly) to ban SSM.
Not exacly handing out the licenses, but cool nonetheless.
It may be that I just can’t read it, but my perusal of the Washington State Constitution doesn’t find any reference to marriage as 1man1woman. But, I do find the following, which would seem to imply that such a law is unconstitutional:
SECTION 3 PERSONAL RIGHTS. No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.
SECTION 12 SPECIAL PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES PROHIBITED. No law shall be passed granting to any citizen, class of citizens, or corporation other than municipal, privileges or immunities which upon the same terms shall not equally belong to all citizens, or corporations.
And I’m pretty sure you’ll find the same sort of thing in the constitution of every state. The question is, what happens when it’s ammended w/ a contradictory section?
So much for WI.
Interesting; I haven’t had a chance to check it out myself, Jake, but all the stories in local papers indicate that WA has a DOMA.
Excellent question at the end. I am sure there will be a lot more legal maneuvers going on here, what with Portland and San Fran.
There is no doubt that WA has a DOMA law. The question was whether or not it is in the form of a constitutional ammendment. It turns out that it is not, so the law can be challenged as unconstitutional. Which is happening in King County today as 6 same-sex couples file suit.
In other WA news: The mayor of Seattle has announced that the city will treat all SSM as legitimate for it’s employees starting today. That is, if any city employees have gotten married in SF or Portland, the city will extend all benefits due to married couples. He also said that he would soon propose an ordinance forbidding employment discrimination against those in same-sex marriages. At the end of the interview he voiced the opinion that SSM should be legal.
So hooray for Seattle.
Yay for Portland! I took half a day off work to provide coffee and take pictures, which you can see along with lots of others by following the links here.
For those interested in the current state of affairs in Portland, b!X’s Portland Communique has an excellent series of posts.
For more info about Seattle & Washington go to:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4477610/
(sorry, HTML illiterate here)
As an FYI/Event heads-up, COLAGE (Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere) is starting a Portland Chapter and having their kick-off event/dinner Saturday night (the 13th). Matt and I of course will be there and likely getting involved (Matt’s mom is a lesbian), but I figured this might be an appropriate thread to let others know about it. The event is free and there will be information, music and food! If you want more information, drop me an email at kim@pbbr.com and I’ll forward the RSVP email.