The Oregon Senate approved legislation last week that would legalize civil unions for same-sex couples as well as prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, just seven months after voters in the state passed a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

But a spokesperson for House Speaker Karen Minnis (R-Wood Village) said this week the bill, SB 1000, will not surface for a floor vote in the Republican-run state House since it attempts to overrule the state measure approved last November.

“She will not bring the bill to the floor, because the bill effectively creates marriage by another word and runs counter to the will of the people,” said Charles Deister, a spokesperson for Minnis.

The state constitutional amendment, Measure 36, defines marriage as only between a man and woman. It won approval Nov. 2 with 57 percent of the vote.

State Senate Majority Leader Kate Brown (D-Portland), the bisexual lead sponsor of the bill, has said publicly she isn’t giving up on getting the legislation through the House this session.

Brown could not be reached by press time, while gay rights lobbyists said they would also continue fighting for the bill.

“We are trying to put a lot of pressure on the speaker. In the past, she’s said the people’s representatives should decide [on such issues] and in this case, we agree with her — let the people’s representatives vote,” said Rebekah Kassell, spokesperson for Basic Rights Oregon, a statewide gay rights organization that supports the legislation.

Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski, a staunch supporter of SB 1000, also urged the legislature to send the bill to his desk for his signature.

Legislative sessions in Oregon typically end June 30, but lawmakers are still hammering out a budget, extending the session until perhaps early August.

Tim Nashif, political director of the conservative Oregon Family Council, said his organization opposes the civil union bill. The family group instead supports a “reciprocal benefits” bill that gives some benefits to all couples who can’t legally marry — such as same-sex couples as well as relatives — because it does not use sexual orientation as a “litmus test” for certain legal rights to families.

Nasif also questioned the civil union bill’s non-discrimination portion.

“It includes bisexuals, transsexuals, cross-dressers — and puts them in the same category as African Americans. We consider that problematic,” Nashif said.

But Kassell said while all families deserve certain legal rights, the reciprocal benefits bill is wrong.

“We strongly object to same-gender couples being treated the same as a mother and son,” Kassell said.

Emotional debate
The July 8 vote in the Oregon Senate evoked strong emotions from legislators who debated the issue for about two hours. The bill passed in a 19-10 vote, with two Republicans supporting it while one Democrat opposed it.

Sen. Charles Starr (R-Hillsboro) said approving civil unions would “radically change the definition of marriage.”

“Same-sex families always deny children a mother and father. This would be a vast untested social experiment that would subject a generation of children to the status of lab rats,” Starr said.

But Sen. Frank Morse (R-Albany), a co-sponsor of the bill who has a gay nephew, said his religious convictions allowed him to show compassion for all loving relationships.

“«NEXT»I recognize there are many for whom religious convictions create barriers to accepting homosexual relationships. For me however, the answer lies in defining destructive relationships, whether they be homosexual or heterosexual,” he said.

The state’s only Fortune 500 company, Nike, recently voiced support for Senate Bill 1000.

The Oregon Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that the marriage licenses granted to 3,000 couples by Multnomah County are not valid. Lawyers for nine same-sex couples and Basic Rights Oregon asked the court to consider the constitutionality of the state law specifying that marriage is between a man and a woman.

Citing the constitutional amendment, the court ruled only on the validity of the 3,000 marriages, leaving the broader question of the constitutionality of the state’s same-sex marriage ban unanswered.

To date, Connecticut and Vermont are the only states to offer civil unions. Massachusetts is the only state where same-sex couples can legally marry.