PORTLAND, March 3, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Multnomah County, Oregon’s most populous, will shortly begin issuing marriage licenses to homosexual partners. Agnes Sowle, attorney for the county, which includes Portland, has found that the issuance of marriage licenses does not violate any state law.
The county attorney concluded that a change in policy was possible because the State of Oregon and 13 other states do not have a specific definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman.
Highlighting the anti-democratic political methods that are usually employed to legalize gay “marriage”, one county commissioner complained that the move was taken without due oversight. Commissioner Lonnie Roberts complained that the move was done “clandestinely”, and said, “I wasn’t informed, and I feel that this is the wrong way to approach this issue,” Roey Thorpe, executive director for the gay rights group Basic Rights Oregon, said the group was thrilled. “Many gay and lesbian couples have been waiting for decades to be seen as equal under the law,” Ms. Thorpe said. New York Times Coverage: https://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/03/national/03GAYS.html?ex=1078981200&en=5e3531a8acf7eebb&ei=5062