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Ashland will register gay, lesbian couples
Both sides represented heavily in packed City Council chambers By DANI DODGE ASHLAND -- Ashland will become the first city in the state to recognize gay and lesbian couples, by allowing them to register with the city as domestic partners. "This celebrates so many loving couples who have not had society recognize their commitment," said Rev. Patt Herdklotz of the Rogue Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. "Any way you honor people's loving relationships is very helpful." With Councilman Cameron Hanson in dissent, the City Council agreed to begin registering same-sex couples as domestic partners. Each couple will pay $25 and can choose to have their union recorded, publicly or privately. The move came after a request two weeks ago by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Political Caucus of Southern Oregon. Under Oregon law, a same-sex couple cannot marry. Advocates for the registry say it will allow gay and lesbian couples to gain visitation rights at hospitals and take advantage of family benefits offered by businesses. On a personal level, it acknowledges the relationships and establishes Ashland as a "diversity-conscious community." Around the country, more than 30 cities and counties register domestic partners. The portion of the proposed resolution that would have allowed heterosexual couples also to register, though, was taken out of the resolution at the request of Councilman Don Laws. "Anything that weakens marriage is a bad idea," Laws said. "But people of the same sex cannot marry, so I would like to limit it to people of the same sex." Hanson formally objected when discussion began on the registry issue, then voted no when a vote was called. He angrily drummed his fingers on the dais while the registry became law. "The city has no business sanctifying same-sex marriages," he said. Hanson was not alone with his opinion in the standing-room-only council chambers. Several people spoke against the measure, including Dan Prince, a minister of a nondenominational home-based church. He said the resolution undermines marriage and therefore undermines society. "The greatest form of human commitment is the lifelong commitment acknowledged throughout history as the foundation of a self-renewing society -- the covenant of marriage," Prince said. "No caring society can long survive without this covenant being central to its culture. To weaken this greatest form of human commitment is to weaken all other healthy forms; wound the vine and you harm the branches." He said a domestic partnership program "is an attempt to build a culture that secures the benefits of a long-term relationship without the commitment, responsibilities, accountability and perseverance of the same." And John Dezell, a retired Central Point attorney, said Ashland council members were acting outside their jurisdiction: Marriage is the responsibility of the state, and recording documents is the jurisdiction of the county. "Don't you have enough to do as council members with water and fixing streets?" he asked. "You are digging your political graves ... Most people in this city and county believe marriage is sacred." But a large contingent of the audience clapped and cheered when the resolution passed. One Ashland man joyously said he and his partner of 21 years planned to register as a couple with the city as soon as the procedure is in place. Minister Alice Knotts, who is establishing a United Methodist Church in the Phoenix-Talent area, said the resolution won't tear apart the community, just the opposite. "A domestic registry indicates people are making promises to care for each other," she said. "And I would think that strengthens the community." |
Mail Tribune
Copyright © The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA
