All of a sudden, things here in the United States are starting to look rosy. Following the lead of San Francisco, Multnomah County (Oregon) is granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
The County Attorney noted that Oregon’s constitution prohibits discriminating based on gender or sexual orientation, so denying same-sex couples marriage licenses is unconstitutional. Numerous couples were granted licenses after the announcement was made.
Oregon does not have a state law forbidding same-sex marriages, so there is good reason to believe that the marriage licenses granted today will not be invalidated. And while it is possible that conservative groups will get a proposition onto the ballot to make same-sex marriages illegal, I would have to believe the marriage licenses granted today will at least be grandfathered, and hopefully will be used to prove the unconstitutionality of such a proposition.
I applaud Agnes Sowle and Multnomah County. This is truly great news for those who believe in marriage equality.