Same Sex Marriages in Oregon Will Continue

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said last winter that she would not defend the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

Same sex marriages in Oregon will continue after the U.S. Supreme Court threw out the state's ban on gay marriage. Photo Courtesy: Oregon ACLU

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Same sex marriages in Oregon will continue after the U.S. Supreme Court threw out the state's ban on gay marriage.

Oregon officials wanted the high court not to block the ruling by U.S. District Judge Michael McShane from going into effect. The motion came from the National Organization for Marriage, a group that has opposed same-sex marriage and civil unions.

Oregon ACLU legal director Steve Shapiro said in a brief before the high court said “Here, in contrast, no party with standing to do so has appealed the ruling, so no stay serving to interrupt implementation of the ruling during the resolution of appellate proceedings was or is warranted,” said a brief signed by Oregon ACLU legal director Steve Shapiro.

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said last winter that she would not defend the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. She cited a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year, which found discriminatory a key provision of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. This week, she urged U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who has jurisdiction over emergency appeals in the West, not to intervene.

With today's ruling, same-sex marriage is now legal in the West Coast states of Washington, Oregon and California, and also Hawaii.

“With marriages continuing in Oregon, we have 44 percent of the country living in a freedom-to-marry state, and it’s just a reality that same-sex couples are part of marriage in America today,” said James Esseks, director of the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Project.

“Across the country, more and more Americans are embracing the truth that their friends, family, and neighbors in same-sex couples deserve the protection and dignity that only come with marriage.”

Source: Oregon ACLU