Oregon justices nullify gay marriage licenses

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Oregon Supreme Court on Thursday nullified nearly 3,000 marriage licenses issued to gay couples a year ago by Portland's Multnomah County, saying a county cannot go against state matrimonial law.

"Oregon law currently places the regulation of marriage exclusively within the province of the state's legislative power," the high court said in its unanimous ruling.

The court said state law bans gay marriage. It also noted that Oregon voters approved a constitutional amendment last November that even more explicitly prohibits the practice.

Kevin Neely, spokesman for the state attorney general's office, said the court left the big issue — civil unions for gay couples — for another day. "I suspect the issue will be resolved by either legislation or by additional litigation," he said.

Legislators had been waiting for the court's ruling for guidance. On Wednesday, Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski said he will push for a law allowing gay couples to form civil unions that would give them many of the rights and privileges of marriage.

Bill Duncan, director of the Provo-based Marriage Law Foundation, said the ruling is encouraging for the 18 states, including Utah, that have state constitutional bans on same-sex marriage.

"To states with marriage amendments, this clearly shows the marriage amendments will, potentially, stop (state) courts from changing the definition of marriage in their states," he said.

Michael Mitchell, executive director of Equality Utah, said it's encouraging that Oregon's governor has said he'll push for recognition of same-sex couples.

"One thing this ruling can't take away . . . is these couples in long-term relationships deserve some kind of stabilizing factor," he said. "We're not talking about the downfall of civilization, we're talking about very real things to very real people."

In Utah, however, where the marriage amendment also prohibits marriage-like "domestic unions," Duncan said the question of "marriage called something different" is already settled.

For now, Mitchell said, "there are no lawsuits on the horizon in Utah."

Multnomah County, which includes much of Portland and is the state's most populous county, began issuing marriage licenses to gay couples last March, its county commissioners arguing that not doing so would violate the Oregon Constitution.