Oregon goes gaily up the aisle
2004-03-03 13:01
New Paltz, New York - An Oregon county will begin marrying same-sex couples, even as a mayor in New York faces criminal charges for sanctioning gay marriage.
Multnomah County Chair Diane Linn directed the county, the state's most populous, to begin issuing such licenses after consulting with the county attorney, but without an official vote from the four other county commissioners.
Following Linn's decision, the head of an Oregon gay rights group said a crowd of gay couples would go to the county administration building in Portland on Wednesday for the licenses. A county judge said she was ready to conduct the weddings.
Waiting decades
"Many of these couples have been waiting decades, and this is the first time they've been seen as equal under the law," said Roey Thorpe, executive director of Basic Rights Oregon.
In New York, the mayor of New Paltz vowed to go ahead with up to two dozen same-sex weddings this weekend, despite being charged with 19 criminal counts and possibly facing jail time for marrying gay couples.
Jason West was scheduled to be in town court on Wednesday night to answer charges that he married 19 couples knowing they did not have marriage licenses, a violation of the state's domestic relations law.
Moral obligation
West, 26, has called it his moral obligation to wed same-sex couples, joining San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom in the vanguard of the growing gay marriage movement.
"I'm incredibly disappointed," said the Green Party mayor, who added that he will plead innocent at his court hearing. "Apparently, it's a crime to uphold the constitution of New York state."
West married 25 gay couples on Friday, making this small college village 120km north of New York City another flash point in the national debate over gay marriage. West now has about a thousand couples on a waiting list.
The gay marriage movement appears to be gaining steam in the United States. Massachusetts is set to become the first state to allow same-sex marriages in May after a state Supreme Court ruled a ban unconstitutional.
In New Paltz, the mayor was charged with a misdemeanour and the punishment could run from a $25 to $500 fine or jail time. Ulster County District Attorney Donald Williams said a jail term wasn't being contemplated at this point.
Williams said the misdemeanour complaint lists 19 charges - instead of 25 for the number of weddings performed - because police at the scene provided eyewitness accounts of only 19 ceremonies. He said he could add counts if West marries more couples.
The state Health Department last week said New York's domestic relations law bars the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples and that New York courts have recognised only marriages between men and women. Critics say that is unconstitutional.
- AP