Tenacity, timing prove pivotal in push for same-sex marriage (Portland OR)

[Ediacara]

Tenacity, timing prove pivotal in push for same-sex marriage
Basic Rights Oregon parleys its good will, connections and strategy into a political victory that rewrites the social landscape

03/11/04
ASHBEL S. GREEN
and BRENT WALTH

Oregonians turned on their televisions March 3 to watch live broadcasts of something they had never seen in their state: men marrying men and women marrying women.

Multnomah County officials had suddenly upended state law -- and centuries of tradition -- by issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

And behind it all was a gay-rights group, Basic Rights Oregon.

The group first persuaded four county commissioners -- at great political risk to them -- to seek a legal opinion that opened the door for same-sex marriage. Basic Rights Oregon was kept in the loop about the county's secret plans, allowing it to orchestrate for the biggest media impact possible.

More at the Oregonian

[central scrutinizer]

1. Bwah hah hah

Hey, thanks a lot, Lon Mabon and the Oregon Citizens Alliance. Without your ego-driven need to put some divisive, lunatic anti-gay rights ballot measure on the ballot every fucking year, Basic Rights Oregon would never have been so organized, so well funded, or so successful.