March 16, 2004
Benton County Joins The Fray
Normally, I'd just plop this link over on the No Comment section, but finding Benton County mentioned in The Guardian was just too cool. Despite the recent AJ opinion that issuing same-sex marriages is probably illegal under statute (interestingly, while arguing that refusing to issue them is probably unconstitutional) and pleas from both the Governor and AJ to let the Courts decide the matter, the Benton County Commissioners voted to allow such marriages.
As one of my friends noted,
In Cooper v. Eugene Sch. Dist. No. 4J, 301 OR 358, 362-65, 723 P2d 298 (1986), the Oregon court explained that "a school superintendent was authorized to decide whether a statute he was charged with enforcing violated either the state or federal constitutions". (Cooper, 301 OR at 362-65.) Since Cooper, the court has continued to adhere to the principle that agencies are authorized to determine the constitutionality of the statutes they are charged with enforcing.
I like to think the citizens of Corvallis are enlightened, liberal, understanding folks. I am, of course, always amazed by reality; some comments emailed to the Commissioners before the vote:
"Civilization will unravel," one letter-writer wrote to Dixon. "God designed marriage to be between one man and one woman. He doesn't like it when people try to change his creation. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of the homosexuality. … The ruins of Pompei show that immorality was rampant. Don't bring the wrath of God down on us."
"Please do not be sucked into the idea that it is about gays getting married," one said. "It is about money and putting their ideas on us."
Um. Yeah. Go Corvallis.
Posted by Sean at March 16, 2004 08:32 PM