Multnomah County commissioners receive death threats for gay marriage deci

[kayell]

http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_030904_news_obscene_calls.6ca53f92.html (registration required)

Multnomah County Commissioner Lisa Naito urged a civil debate on same-sex marriage after her and some of her fellow commissioners said they received death threats and obscene and “hateful” correspondence from some members of the community.

Naito’s plea came before a county committee was scheduled to conduct what could be an emotional, Tuesday night public hearing. During the hearing, a proposed charter amendment that would forbid Multnomah officials from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples is expected to be introduced by Commissioner Lonnie Roberts.


The charter amendment proposal comes about a week after the county began selling licenses to gay and lesbian couples who wanted to be married. While gay rights advocates hailed the decision as one in keeping with Constitutional guarantees of equal rights under the law, the county has also drawn an equal amount of fire.


The landmark decision on same-sex marriages, done without a formal vote of the commissioners and discussed without the knowledge of commissioner Roberts, has drawn the ire of some newspapers, religious groups, lawmakers, and citizens. The move by Multnomah County thrust Oregon into the fierce national debate on gay marriages.


Apparently, some of the anger over the county’s decision has deteriorated into death threats against some of the commissioners.

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[donco6]

1. Typical Christian Family Values for ya.

Sorry, but that's the way I see it.

[Malva Zebrina]

2. Don't adhere to the bible--? Kill em

[prolesunited]

3. OK, let me get this right

It's wrong for people of the same sex to LOVE each-other, but it is OK for these good Christians to HATE people so much that they threaten to kill them? :crazy:

What kind of bizarro universe does their brains inhabit?

[brook]

4. Just when I think...

I cannot be further disgusted with human behavior...a friend's sibling called from there - not an hour ago - to joyfully announce she was getting married this evening....the culmination of a 21 year gay relationship. Why anyone would want to deny her the right to make an 'official' committment and gaining the associated civil rights she's entitled to, I cannot fathom. And death threats? Why? I do hope this is investigated and I do hope the instigators of the threats are accorded their civil rights - in a courtroom.

[mouse7]

5. Brought to you by those who applaud abortion clinic bombers

The same people that make these death threats are the ones who support blowing up abortion clinics and gunning down doctors as clinics....

...in the name of Jesus.

[stevedeshazer]

6. I have a lot to say about this

First, the death threats are REAL.

I live in Multnomah County. I was born here. I'll probably die here.

My wife works for Multnomah County (Juvenile Services) - 24 years service and an AFSCME member.

Lonnie Roberts, the lone dissenter on the commission is not too bright, but he deserved to be heard. He was shut out of the process, and unfairly so in my view. He's outnumbered 4-1 on the commission, but the other commissioners made a huge political mistake by not including him before they made their big announcement.

Roberts would make a poor spokesperson for the anti-gay crowd, because his arguments don't hold water. Hearing him sputter and spit would actually have helped the same-sex marriage cause. They should have just let him state his opposition and be done with it.

With that said, the commission chair, Diane Linn, made a decision based on the legal advice she was given. In that sense, she was right. She would not have had to engage any other commissioners in order to rule that Multnomah County was not in compliance with the Oregon Constitution. The Oregon Constitution does not specify opposite sex marriage; it says only that males and females who have reached the age of 17 are eligible.

It's not over, not by a long shot. And in a state that is as politically divided as Oregon in a crucial election year, I have mixed feelings about the timing of this. It is long overdue, yet ironically ill-timed.

[rhite5]

10. The timing may be better than you think,

on the heels of the developments in San Francisco.

It is time this issue got settled and put away. Most Oregonians do not care when there are far more important issues to worry about. If pinned down, they say, "Yeah, of course they should get the same rights as anyone else."

The PROCESS question does look like a problem that could have been avoided, but it does not change the realities.

And, yes, I also live in Oregon.

[Turbineguy]

7. I recall seeing some sort of

census that there were 154,000 long term same sex couples in the U.S in 2000.

For Gay people, this is a big issue. For the straights, this is no issue. Why make it one? Leave these people alone and let them find some happiness.

[stevedeshazer]

8. I honestly don't see what the big deal is

They hurt what they don't understand.

[Robin Hood]

9. If these morons want to play this game then let me jump in.

I would have no problem with incarcerating and sterilizing hateful dumbass fascists thugs as people like this are.

I live here and this has made the news the last couple of days. But this has not been reported by the local Portland news...

Gay Men Attacked Outside Popular Mount Hood Bar.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=102&topic_id=410902&mesg_id=410902

GOVERNMENT CAMP, Ore. -- Two gay men were attacked late last month in what deputies are calling a brutal hate crime.
The two men were attacked outside the popular Ratskeller bar in Government Camp.

Clackamas County deputies say the victims, who were visiting from Washington, left the bar around 1 a.m. and were attacked by four men and one woman. The men escaped, but one suffered serious injuries.

Investigators believe that they were attacked because of their sexual orientation.

"The tone was that people of his kind don't belong up there," spokeswoman Angie Brandenberg told KOIN 6 News.