Hundreds of gay couples tied the knot in Portland after authorities decided Oregon law allowed the unions, opening up a new front in the US battle over same-sex marriage.
"We're just here to make it official. We're here to make honest men of each other," said Paul Harris, 55, who married James Griener, 59, on Wednesday.
New York's attorney general, meanwhile, said gay weddings in that state are illegal. That didn't stop a second New York mayor from announcing not only that he would conduct gay marriages, but also that he intends to marry his own same-sex partner.
PHOTO: AFP
Mayors and county officials in four US states have allowed gay marriages, including thousands in San Francisco, which started the wedding march on Feb. 12. The marriages have met with fierce opposition and calls for a constitutional amendment banning the unions.
Hundreds of couples in Portland quickly exchanged vows in ceremonies organized by a gay-rights group at a hotel and a city auditorium.
County spokeswoman Stephanie Soden said officials weren't counting same-sex marriage licenses, but estimated that at least 90 percent of the 422 licenses issued on Wednesday went to gay couples.
"We will not allow discrimination to continue when the Constitution of the state of Oregon grants privileges equally to all citizens," Commissioner Lisa Naito said earlier at a news conference.
Among those marrying was Christine Tanner, who won a landmark Oregon court ruling in 1998 ordering state and local governments to offer benefits to their employees' same-sex partners.
"There are only so many big events in people's lives -- birth, marriage and death," said Tanner, who has raised two children with her partner of 19 years. "It's a big deal. For us, this is symbolic."
Governor Ted Kulongoski said he favors civil unions but questioned the legality of the marriages.
"Reasonable people can differ, but I think when you read [the state marriage statute] at the time in history when the statute was written, I think it is clear they were thinking about a man and a woman getting married," the Democrat said.
Oregon's Republican leadership demanded that state Attorney General Hardy Myers stop the marriages immediately.
"I'm very upset that this travesty is taking place in Oregon. It definitely is an insult to the voters and to the people," said Kevin Mannix, chairman of the state Republican Party.
In New York, where one mayor has conducted 25 same-sex marriages in the past week, state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer issued an opinion saying state law bars such unions. But he added that it is the courts' job to determine whether the law is constitutional.
"I personally would like to see the law changed, but must respect the law as it now stands," Spitzer said in a statement.
Still, the mayor of New Paltz, a college town about 120km north of New York City, said he will conduct another 10 to 20 marriages this weekend. The Ulster County district attorney has charged Mayor Jason West with 19 criminal counts for some of the marriages he already has conducted, but the prosecutor lacks the authority to stop West from performing more weddings.
"The Constitution is clear that I cannot discriminate in who I marry," said West, adding that he has 1,200 gay couples on a waiting list. He pleaded not guilty to the charges on Wednesday.
Mayor John Shields of Nyack, about 30km north of New York City, said on Wednesday that he will begin conducting weddings as early as this week. Shields said he also planned to seek a license himself to marry his same-sex partner.
"What do you do when you're faced with injustice?" Shields said. "What did the women do in the suffrage movement? They marched. They were arrested. They did what they had to do to get their rights."
In California, the conservative Campaign for California Families demanded that state Attorney General Bill Lockyer file criminal charges against San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who was the first to authorize gay weddings.
Lockyer spokeswoman Hallye Jordan said that although it is a misdemeanor to marry a same-sex couple in California, "the attorney general believes the best way to resolve the issue is to seek a final resolution by the California Supreme Court, which we are aggressively pursuing."
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