Word: same-sex
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Even with all the planning, however, there was one wild card: no matter how much they wanted to, the commissioners wouldn't authorize same-sex marriage licenses without an assenting opinion from the county attorney Agnes Sowle. And Sowle was a litigator, not an activist...
...everything was going as planned until Feb. 12. On that day, Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, who in 1955 founded the nation's first major lesbian group, exchanged vows at San Francisco city hall. Mayor Gavin Newsom, who had taken office the previous month, had ordered officials to license same-sex marriages; eventually thousands of gays showed up. Even though Newsom was acting in defiance of a California "defense of marriage" law defining marriage as one man, one woman--a law that doesn't exist in Oregon--the marriages he engineered became huge news...
...least one same-sex couple showed up at the county building anyway, and they ended up in the office of county attorney Sowle. Even though Sowle had decided that Multnomah must grant same-sex marriage licenses, she did not provide one. Instead, she obfuscated. "I said, 'You know, I'm working on this opinion, and if I could prevail on you to wait a couple of days, I would appreciate it a lot. It would be a very good thing,'" she says...
...March 3, 418 same-sex couples received marriage licenses. Nearly everyone was overwhelmed with emotion--not just the couples but also the reporters, cops and even snack vendors, many of whom were wiping away tears. "It was like a wall of emotion," says Thorpe, who three days later married her partner. "I've had civil rights victories. But I've never in my life experienced anything like this. It changed my life. I think it changed the lives of everybody who was involved with...
...same-sex couples who wed in Oregon may not be married forever. Judge Bearden's ruling that the state must recognize the marriages is being contested, and everyone is waiting for the higher courts. But Roey Thorpe got what she wanted: the pro-gay side goes into that case with the p.r. armor of 6,044 happy newlyweds. Those who oppose same-sex marriage must now argue against rights already granted. "I give them credit for achieving that beachhead," says the G.O.P.'s Mannix. "But will that short-term objective be worth weakening their long-term objectives...