The activist mythos holds that all who voted for gay marriage bans did so out of "hate." The idea that folks might be genuinely (if wrongly) concerned about weakening marriage is simply dismissed. Oregon, however, presents a problem - the state voted strongly for Kerry, but also strongly to ban same-sex marriage. That means there were an awful lot of Democrats who also voted "anti-gay." Activists don't really want to think about that, as it produces troubling cognitive dissonance.
Now something else peculiar is happening in Oregon. As the
state's
Albany Democrat-Herald reports:
Just a few weeks ago, state Sen. Ben Westlund voted "yes" on Measure 36 to ban gay marriages in Oregon. Now, the central Oregon lawmaker is hard at work drafting a civil unions bill for the 2005 Legislature to give gay and lesbian couples some of the rights bestowed on married couples.
"It's just the right thing to do," the Tumalo Republican says. "Nothing in Measure 36 prevents the Legislature from affording equal rights and privileges to same-sex couples."
Of course, there are many social conservatives who
oppose granting any kind of legal recognition to gay relationships.
But the numbers who support gay marriage plus those who oppose
marriage but support (of at least don't oppose) civil unions is the
majority we need to advance our rights. Oregon could be showing us
the way.
- Stephen H. Miller
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