Portland, Oregon’s largest city, has been accepting of gay men and lesbians for many years. On Monday federal judge Michael Mc Shane struck down Oregon’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage. According to CNN News, U.S. District Judge Michael McShane said in his ruling that, “Because Oregon’s marriage laws discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation without a rational relationship to any legitimate government interest; the laws violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.” Mc Shane ordered that his ruling take immediate effect.
Judge McShane also said that according to CNN U.S., “My decision will not be the final word on this subject, but on this issue of marriage I am struck more by our similarities than our differences. I believe that if we can look for a moment past gender and sexuality, we can see in these plaintiffs nothing more or less than our own families, families who we would expect our Constitution to protect, if not exalt, in equal measure,” and that “With discernment we see not shadows lurking in closets or the stereotypes of what was once believed; rather, we see families committed to the common purpose of love, devotion, and service to the greater community.”
In addition to Oregon, judges in seven states — Arkansas, Idaho, Michigan, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Virginia — have had their laws or constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage struck down in recent months according to the New York Times.
According to Fox News, dozens of same-sex couples were officially married on Monday after the federal judge ruled that Oregon’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. KTVU reported that two of the plaintiffs in the case, Deanna Geiger and Janine Nelson, were the first couple to be married in Multnomah County, Oregon after the decision had been announced.
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