Oregon Christian Group petitions against two bills

[Sheila]

In Oregon, last May, our Governor signed into law two bills HB 2007 and SB2. A group of Christian right activist are trying to repeal the laws that the gonvernor signed into law. This group is called Concerned Oregonians. I received this website and it is all about their thinking of how mean and perverted we all are.
www.concernedoregonians.com
I couldn't pick this up, but a friend of mine sent it to me in htm or html whatever.
Sheila

[LostInTime]

Here are their reasons (on their site in PDF format):

In 2004, Oregonians voted to amend the Oregon Constitution to state that Marriage was 'between
a man and a woman only' in response to the unlawful extension of marriage licenses to 'same sex
partners' by the Multnomah County Commissioners.

On May 9th, this year, the Governor of Oregon signed House Bill 2007 (HB 2007), which provides
all the benefits of marriage in Oregon Law to men and women who wish to live in a homosexual or
lesbian relationship; hence, circumventing the will of the people, the Oregon Constitution, and our
nation's traditional moral and legal standards. In so doing, the Legislature and the Governor,
created another form of marriage called 'domestic partnerships,' in defiance of the will of the
people. Petition 303 seeks to place HB 2007 on the November 4, 2008 ballot on which voter eligible
Oregonians may vote to either allow HB 2007 to become law, or make it null and void.
                                           
Petition # 304

On the same day, the Governor Signed Senate Bill 2 (SB 2) which provides special rights,
privileges, and protections to homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals, transgenders, and those who have
'gender identity' issues.

SB 2 effectively forces the citizens of Oregon to accept what has for millennia been considered
aberrant and immoral behavior. It removes our right to make important social and moral
distinctions that are important to parenting, the well being of children, hiring, the workplace, and
education, by the threat of legal action against those who choose to make moral distinctions. By
its passage it imposes a new morality on all Oregonians, and will have a chilling effect upon free
speech, employer's rights, parental rights, and what is taught in the classroom.
Oregonians have a Constitutional means to prevent these bills from becoming law on January 1,
2008, called a Referendum. 55,179 VALID SIGNATURES on approved referendum petition
forms are required for EACH Referendum within 90 days of the end of the Legislative Session in
order for these bills to be placed on the November 4th, 2008, General Election Ballot. If
Oregonians fail to obtain the required signatures, the bills will become law, and those elected and
unelected officials who do not respect the will of the people will be further encouraged to
disregard our votes in the future.

          Order Petitions at info@concernedoregonians.com providing name, address, phone
          number and number of petitions needed for your church or for individual circulation.
                     Please provide Name of Church and estimated number of adults.

____________________________

Recently though someone overheard part of this conversation in which they were speaking of tactics and weaponry.

"NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition! Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency.... Our *three* weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency...and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope.... Our *four*...no... *Amongst* our weapons.... Amongst our weaponry...are such elements as fear, surprise.... I'll come in again."

As funny as the above skit was and continues to be this group highlights a current trend of absolutes. Black and white does not exist for these people and mark my words, they are absolutely dangerous. They are dangerous to each and every one of us no matter where we may live. They have dedicated themselves to ridding the world of that which is different and that which they do not understand. Those who know the history of the church should not be surprised, they have been doing this for a very long time. In the last couple of decades some have gone to violence in order to carry out what they perceive to be the will of their god. In time more may do so and as terrifying as that may be, we all have to keep working hard to keep them in check. So no matter where you may live, please take the time to contact legislators to let them know that a good part of society does not see the LGBT folks as freak of nature who have been set on destroying the world for centuries. In fact that in some cultures we are not considered some dangerous pox set loose on society. We all have the same goals, to live, work, and play in a most beautiful world without fear or prejudice.

[Thundra]

Ahhhhh, whatev.  I agree that queers deserve marriage equality, and that everyone has the right to choose who their life partner should be, but the whole marriage thing just kind of leaves me cold on a personal level.

I wonder sometimes if our efforts would be better focussed toward other equality concerns like employment, healthcare and whatnot.

I know that we will win the marriage equality battle, because liberal forces always win in the civil wars, whether taking up of arms or in litigation. It just takes time.

[Sheila]

that is what SB2 is all about, rights, not special rights, for GLBTQ. It just means that they can't fire us for being who we are, they can't evict us out of our homes if we are renting and that we have the use of public accomodations for our gender expression. I may not have worded things right.
The other is HB2007,which has to do with civil unions.
Sheila

[cindianna_jones]

Yes, the bigots want to have the legal right to discriminate.  That's what it is.  They'll never admit it, but that's what it is. 

Quite frankly, I've never been able to figure them out in this regard.  Really... what threat do we pose?  They really believe that we are going to come in and convert their children!  It's pretty sad.

Cindi

[mallard500]

Yes, the bigots want to have the legal right to discriminate.  That's what it is.  They'll never admit it, but that's what it is. 

Quite frankly, I've never been able to figure them out in this regard.  Really... what threat do we pose?  They really believe that we are going to come in and convert their children!  It's pretty sad.

Cindi

The GOOD news is that, (according to mainstream news anyway); the various groups gathering signatures have been having problems, and are at odds with each other.

My old politico senses tells me we shouldn't assume we're safe though, and I don't put it past the bigots to even highlight their problems in order to try and lull us into complacency.  Either way though, they are having a much harder time getting signatures this time, then in previous campaign years.

I'm still preparing for the worst though, and assuming that it will end up on the ballot in 2008.  It's hopeful though to see the far right having problems.  I'm hoping that a lot of their previously 'faithful' will be seeing the difference between this fight, and their original fight to 'defend marriage'.

During that 2004 campaign, a lot was made of their "we don't support any kind of discrimination; we just want to defend Marriage" argument.  So now, that statement seems false - they won the Defense of Marriage fight, and despite saying that these new laws refute the spirit of that ballot decision, not so many of the faithful are buying into the idea.

We can but hope...  then fight the good fight if needed. 

Scott

[Sheila]

Scott,
   We can't just assume that there won't be enough signatures on their petitions, we have to assume there will be. When they passed measure 36 it was stated that we can't call it a marriage, so we are calling the it civil union with not as many perks as a marriage has. It is still not equal, but that is what most had said they would allow. Now they are going against their word, imagine that. The other bill calls for equal rights for all citizens of Oregon. We do have this law in effect in two counties and numerous cities all around Oregon, it just seems like it makes sense to make it a state law. We have had it in Portland for a number of years and nothing bad has happened there and I don't believe there has ever been anyone who has complained about it.
Sheila

[mallard500]

Scott,
   We can't just assume that there won't be enough signatures on their petitions, we have to assume there will be. When they passed measure 36 it was stated that we can't call it a marriage, so we are calling the it civil union with not as many perks as a marriage has. It is still not equal, but that is what most had said they would allow. Now they are going against their word, imagine that. The other bill calls for equal rights for all citizens of Oregon. We do have this law in effect in two counties and numerous cities all around Oregon, it just seems like it makes sense to make it a state law. We have had it in Portland for a number of years and nothing bad has happened there and I don't believe there has ever been anyone who has complained about it.
Sheila

Exactly... As I said, for all we know, this could just be a move to lull us into thinking we won't have to fight - I'm assuming that it will be on the ballot.  That way, if they don't get the signatures, great; but if they do, we're ready.

You make an excellent point about us being able to use our past experience in the state as an example - God hasn't struck down Portland or Multnomah county yet, nor has it clogged the courts with queers suing right wing churches...   

Anyway, we're on the same page here Sheila... expect the worst, and prepare for it!  Oh, and apparently, Sept 16th is their planned date to really hit all the churches across the state on a Sunday to get the final push for signatures.
Pray for rain... or better yet, ice!   


Scott

[RebeccaFog]

Scott,
   We can't just assume that there won't be enough signatures on their petitions, we have to assume there will be.

   In Massachusetts, some of the anti-marriage crowd lied to people who signed their petitions.  They worked the signers like chumps at at carnival.  They would have 2 petitions ready, one which concerned a fairly neutral topic and one which concerned gay marriage.  They would kind of mix up the 2 petitions so that people's signatures ended up on the marriage one.  Sometimes, they were just vague or misleading as to what the signer was signing.
   Anyway, some people who signed demanded that their names be removed from the list.  I guess the cheating helped us because it made the whole anti-marriage organizations come across as shady.  We now have legal same sex marriages.

   Another thing that happened is that the names on the petition were all posted on a website so you could see if you lived next to a bigot heh heh.  The posted list also helped people to determine if they'd been duped into signing.

   I guess you all should keep an eye out for petition games.  When you get names stricken from the petitions, it really makes the bigoted people look bad.

   I used to think Oregon was a normal state.  What's going on there?

[mallard500]

   In Massachusetts, some of the anti-marriage crowd lied to people who signed their petitions.  They worked the signers like chumps at at carnival.  They would have 2 petitions ready, one which concerned a fairly neutral topic and one which concerned gay marriage.  They would kind of mix up the 2 petitions so that people's signatures ended up on the marriage one.  Sometimes, they were just vague or misleading as to what the signer was signing.
   Anyway, some people who signed demanded that their names be removed from the list.  I guess the cheating helped us because it made the whole anti-marriage organizations come across as shady.  We now have legal same sex marriages.

   Another thing that happened is that the names on the petition were all posted on a website so you could see if you lived next to a bigot heh heh.  The posted list also helped people to determine if they'd been duped into signing.

   I guess you all should keep an eye out for petition games.  When you get names stricken from the petitions, it really makes the bigoted people look bad.

   I used to think Oregon was a normal state.  What's going on there?

True story...!  In fact, both the social AND fiscal Conservatives here in the state have gotten pretty bad reps for their abuse of the petitioning process.  Their abuses are directly responsible for much stricter state laws regarding paid signature gatherers, and made the state examine the sigs MUCH more closely.

All of this is a good thing, and I like the on-line suggestion.  After all, living next door to a bigot is almost as bad as living next door to a sex offender (and sometimes one in the same!)

As for what's happening in Oregon, we really are still a very progressive state in many many ways, but people sometimes forget that there are sometimes two Oregons... the urban and the rural, and they don't always have the same agendas.  It's easy for the right wing to play on the fears of the rural voters and use those 'degenerate' big cities (Portland and Eugene) as examples of what those horrible liberals will do if given their way. 

For years, Oregon has had a small, but very well organized cadre of religious fundamentalists that have driven the wave of backlash and fear, and have done a lot of damage to the whole Ballot process and the states reputation.  Fortunately, they seem to be weakening, and people are starting to see through their smoke screens.  We can but hope, and continue to work!

Best of luck back there in Mass!


Scott

[Sheila]

Actually, in Eugene, we have a lot of conservative, religious people here. You would think that this city is very progressive and most of the state thinks that way. We are not, that is why we have a hard time passing legislation through our town. Then we have a lot of wishy-washy moderates that are afraid to do anything without finding out what the majority is doing. We still don't have a law for freedom of gender expression. They all think now that the state has passed a bill, now we can forget about it. We do have sexual orientation though. Even some of the rural communities have gender expression. Some that you would not think they would even consider, let alone pass legislation in.

When you are trying to get people to sign petitions, you have to have the subject of the petition there in your hands. So, if you see anyone trying to get people to sign petition look to make sure they have both sb2 and hb2007 in their hands to you can read it. It should be attached.

These people are ruthless. Anyone who can use the name of God to defile and discriminate against another person has got to be the lowest form of life on this earth. Just my opinion.
Sheila

[mallard500]

Actually, in Eugene, we have a lot of conservative, religious people here. You would think that this city is very progressive and most of the state thinks that way. We are not, that is why we have a hard time passing legislation through our town. Then we have a lot of wishy-washy moderates that are afraid to do anything without finding out what the majority is doing. We still don't have a law for freedom of gender expression. They all think now that the state has passed a bill, now we can forget about it. We do have sexual orientation though. Even some of the rural communities have gender expression. Some that you would not think they would even consider, let alone pass legislation in.

<snip...>

"Wishy-washy moderates"...  LOL!   So darn true!  I've met a lot of supposedly "liberal' people in my life that were just as bigoted in areas of racism, homophobia, transphobia, etc as the most staunch Fundamentalist!

I'd actually rather deal with someone who's honest about their opinions, (even if I find those beliefs abhorrent!), then the (typically) white, middle-class 'liberal' who talks the line, but is secretly against us!

We call those folks 'moderates' now, to be more realistic, and realize that they AREN'T automatically our friends.  Unfortunately, they're one of the key voting blocks - the 'swing' vote, if you will.  Without convincing this group, we'll never get anywhere.

That's why it's SO important for people to speak out to friends, family, co-workers, etc on such issues, IMHO.  Many people will vote against what they've been convinced are 'special rights' just because they've never really heard the other side of the coin from a real person.

Even if you don't come out as Trans, Gay, etc, just hearing someone they know express support for civil rights makes it much easier for the middle-roaders to decide to buck what they've heard all their lives.  Personal interaction is VERY important!

I've had a surprising (and saddening) number of young workers where I'm at tell me that they voted FOR the Marriage Defense ballot measure in 2004, if for no other reason, they didn't really pay much attention to it, and didn't know any reasons why NOT to.  But they tell me now that they've gotten to know people who are Trans, Gay, Lesbian, etc, they've changed their minds.  It's much harder to vote against a group when you've actually MET people that it would effect, or at least heard people speaking in their defense.

Off my soap-box again...  Thanks for your patience folks!   


Scott

[Hazumu]

Then we have a lot of wishy-washy moderates that are afraid to do anything without finding out what the majority is doing.

Exactly!  We need moderates AND liberals who have the courage to stand for moderate and liberal values, and not try to chase the vote.  "Build it, and they WILL come"

Karen