Source:
oregonlive.comTwo landmark gay-rights laws, signed less than a week ago by Gov. Ted Kulongoski, were officially targeted Monday for referral to voters.
Jack Brown of Grants Pass, chairman of the Constitution Party of Oregon, and two other southern Oregonians filed papers with the Oregon secretary of state so they can begin collecting the 55,179 signatures they will need to put the two laws on the ballot in fall 2008.
They are challenging Senate Bill 2, which bans discrimination based on sexual orientation in housing, work and public places such as restaurants and theaters, and House Bill 2007, which creates legal domestic partnerships, giving state benefits of marriage to same-sex couples.
Brown said he's launching the referral effort because he sees the laws defying the spirit of Measure 36, a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2004 that declares marriage as legally valid only between a man and a woman. The domestic partnership law also unfairly leaves out other couples who head households but cannot marry, such as two sisters, he said.
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I hope they fail to get this on the ballot. Many Oregonians, including myself have worked long and hard defeating Oregon Citizen's Alliance (OCA) referendums attacking homosexuality, and it is time for this bigotted assault on civil liberties to stop here in Oregon -- and elsewhere.