PORTLAND, Ore. — A federal judge Friday granted the request of attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund to prevent Oregon House Bill 2007 from going into effect Jan. 1 while a lawsuit filed by disenfranchised voters goes forward.
“Our country is founded on the basic principle of government of the people, by the people, and for the people. It is un-American that Oregon citizens are being denied the right to have their vote count on this matter,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Austin R. Nimocks. “The right to exercise one’s voice in the democratic process is a crucial one, and state and county officials must not infringe upon that right.”
ADF attorneys filed a lawsuit on behalf of several Oregonians after the Secretary of State and clerks’ offices in 12 different counties invalidated their petition signatures for a referendum that would allow voters to decide the “civil unions” issue (
www.telladf.org/news/story.aspx?cid=4317). Many of the citizens sought, in person, to have their signatures revalidated since no legitimate reason existed to refuse to recognize them.
The court granted a motion for preliminary injunction against the Oregon law, which would have allowed members of the same sex to enter into imitation marriages called “civil unions” beginning Jan. 1. ADF attorneys filed the lawsuit,
Lemons v. Bradbury, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon on Dec. 3.
ADF is a legal alliance defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation.
www.telladf.org