116 reasons to cheer for equal rights!!!
Posted by: Matt McCormick | From: October 9, 2007
I AM SO HAPPY that the various groups trying to stop fair domestic partnership laws from going into effect in Oregon FAILED TO GET ENOUGH SIGNATURES!!! It is a good day for equal rights in Oregon, though there are still 55,063 reasons to be sad and worried...
"Opponents of domestic partnerships fall short
(Tuesday, October 09, 2007 MICHELLE COLE The Oregonian)
SALEM -- Opponents of a new domestic partnership law for same-sex couples failed to gather enough signatures to put a referendum on the November 2008 ballot.
The secretary of state's office said Monday that volunteers who spent the summer collecting signatures to allow voters to weigh in on domestic partnerships fell 116 signatures short of the 55,179 needed to qualify for the ballot. That means that on Jan. 1 same-sex couples in Oregon will be able to enter into domestic partnerships allowing them most of the state benefits of marriage, such as inheritance rights. It does not affect federal benefits, such as Social Security.
"January can't come soon enough," Kelly Burke of Portland said Monday. "I'm feeling very relieved and thrilled that we might actually get to access these laws." Burke, 38, and her partner Dolores Doyle, 42, were married in 2004 when Multnomah County briefly issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The state Supreme Court later declared those county marriage licenses invalid.
The couple have a 6-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter. Doyle recently spent 10 months battling breast cancer. "Knowing we could legally take care of each other would have made the burden lighter," Burke said...."
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that truly is a big hoorah!
Posted by: karl at October 9, 2007 9:00 PM