February 1, 2005
Gay Rights Group Challenging Marriage Ban
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 6:10 a.m. ET

SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- A gay rights group is challenging an amendment to Oregon's Constitution banning same-sex marriage, arguing it revises rather than amends the document.

The ban should be overturned because ``it violates the fundamental principle of civil rights for Oregonians on which the Oregon Constitution is based,'' said Roey Thorpe of Basic Rights Oregon.

The group filed a lawsuit Monday that also argues the ban makes more than one change to the constitution in violation of state law barring multiple changes under a single ballot measure.

The attorney for the Defense of Marriage Coalition, which put the ban on the ballot last fall, said the lawsuit was based on a ``very weak theory'' about constitutional law.

Kevin Neely, spokesman for Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers, said his office had not seen the lawsuit, which names Gov. Ted Kulongoski as the defendant.

``But we will review it and defend the state and governor,'' Neely said.

Voters in Oregon and 10 other states approved gay marriage bans.

Challenges have already been filed in Oklahoma and Georgia.