Attorney General in Oregon Will Not Defend Gay Marriage Ban

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The attorney general in Oregon, Ellen Rosenblum, said in a federal court filing on Thursday that she would not defend the state ban on same-sex marriage, according to Bloomberg.

In the court filing, Rosenblum said that the law “cannot withstand a federal constitutional challenge under any standard of review.” She also said that the state will continue to enforce the ban until it is overturned by a court ruling.

  

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Lawsuits were filed against Rosenblum and Democratic Governor John Kitzhaber last year. This is when she announced her refusal to defend the ban in the state.

“State defendants admit that performing same-sex marriages in Oregon would have no adverse effect on existing marriages, and that sexual orientation does not determine an individual’s capacity to establish a loving and enduring relationship,” Rosenblum wrote in the court filing.

The campaign manager for Oregon United for Marriage, Mike Marshall, said, “The Attorney General has taken a close look at the facts, and came to the same conclusion that courts around the country and freedom-minded Oregonians have: there is no reasonable or legal justification to exclude committed gay and lesbian couples from marriage.”

In a statement from Rosenblum, she noted that her office typically defends Oregon in litigation, but, “there is no rational basis for Oregon to refuse to honor the commitments made by same-sex couples in the same way it honors the commitments of opposite-sex couples.”