On Friday, December 28—less than a week before same-sex
couples will be allowed to form domestic partnerships in
Oregon—attorneys for anti-gay activists who tried to send the new
law to the ballot will be in federal court, asking a judge for a
temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to stop the
new law from taking effect.

A spokesperson for Basic Rights Oregon says “it’s unlikely” that the
judge will put domestic partnerships on hold. If that’s the case, then
same-sex couples can head to the Multnomah County Building in SE
Portland as planned on January 2, plunk down $60, get a document
notarized, and start enjoying the same rights and responsibilities that
Oregon grants to married couples.

But if Restore America’s David Crowe has his way, the federal judge
will delay domestic partnerships, giving his group—along with the
conservative Alliance Defense Fund—a chance to plead their case,
originally filed on December 3. The anti-gay activists attempted to
refer the domestic partnership law, passed by the legislature in April,
to the November 2008 ballot. They turned in 62,000 signatures in late
September, but the secretary of state determined that only 55,063 were
valid—just 116 short of the 55,179 required to make the ballot.
Crowe and his cohorts argue that some signatures were tossed out
erroneously, and if five were reinstated, the issue would go to the
ballot (thanks to the statistical equations used to tally valid
signatures, each signature tossed out takes a small pile of signatures
with it).

According to Crowe, who sent out an email to supporters on December
19, the motion asking for a restraining order and injunction says “‘the
plaintiffs in this matter currently number twenty-eight (28) and
additional plaintiffs will likely be added.'” He added that if domestic
partnerships begin on January 2, “‘substantial and irreparable harm
will occur upon the plaintiffs.'”

Before domestic partnerships begin, the anti-gay activists want a
chance to make the case that the signatures should be reinstated, and
the issue placed on the ballot—a move that would put domestic
partnerships on hold, pending a vote.

Karynn Fish, spokesperson for Basic Rights Oregon—which is not
a party to the lawsuit, but has retained counsel—says “there’s
greater harm on our side” if domestic partnerships are delayed

Check blogtown.portlandmercury.com on December 28 for results from the hearing.