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Hearing Could Provide Answers In Oregon Gay Marriage Debate

Ben West, right, and Paul Rummell are two of the plaintiffs in the case.
Amanda Peacher
/
OPB News
Ben West, right, and Paul Rummell are two of the plaintiffs in the case.

Wednesday could be a big day in the fight to legalize same-sex marriage in Oregon. A federal judge in Eugene will hear arguments from a group that wants to defend a voter-approved ban on gay marriage.

Ben West, right, and Paul Rummell are two of the plaintiffs in the case.
Credit Amanda Peacher / OPB News
/
OPB News
Ben West, right, and Paul Rummell are two of the plaintiffs who sued the State of Oregon to overturn a 2004 ballot measure.

Four same-sex couples sued the state to overturn the 2004 ballot measure that defined marriage as only between one man and one woman. Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum declined to defend the law, so a national group filed a last-minute motion to be allowed to defend the measure on the state's behalf. U.S. District Judge Michael McShane will hear oral arguments on whether the National Organization for Marriage should be allowed to intervene.

John Eastman, the group's chairman, says his group filed the motion on behalf of Oregon voters who approved the decade-old ban on same-sex marriage.

"An attorney general's obligation is to defend a statute if there are plausible arguments to be made in defense of it," he says. "And she's not only not done that, but has affirmatively started attacking the statute it's her job to defend."

Eastman says his group will likely appeal if the judge rules they cannot intervene in the case. It’s unclear whether that action is allowed or will be up to the judge’s discretion.

Copyright 2014 Northwest News Network

Chris Lehman
Chris Lehman graduated from Temple University with a journalism degree in 1997. He landed his first job less than a month later, producing arts stories for Red River Public Radio in Shreveport, Louisiana. Three years later he headed north to DeKalb, Illinois, where he worked as a reporter and announcer for NPR–affiliate WNIJ–FM. In 2006 he headed west to become the Salem Correspondent for the Northwest News Network.