Judging by the number of phone calls we received last week after Multnomah County Commissioners approved same-sex marriage licenses, rural Oregon is not ready for that social change.
We know this information is hardly scientific, since Sweet Home is probably not the pulse of homosexual unions, but those who called were pretty specific about why they would like to see the Multnomah county commissioners ridden out of the state on a rail.
In fact, as a newspaper publisher and gray-haired reporter, we have asked the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association to examine the method by which the commissioners made their decision. At first blush, it appears they did so outside the state?s public meetings regulations and if not, at the very least outside the spirit of those rules.
Within 24 hours of the commissioner?s announcement, pollsters were calling around the state trying to determine whether the average person was in step with Multnomah county (remember, these are the folks who approved a new tax on themselves while their commissioners were hiring a county librarian at a salary 30% more than her predecessor).
Pastor J.D. Batchelor, who ministers to folks in the Foster and Cascadia areas, was on our phone line as soon as our office opened one morning last week.
His letter to the editor, follows:
March 3, 2004
We, the people as a whole, are in a state of great despair. We have a small few imposing their views on the great majority of us. The very core beliefs of our society are under attack because of what is being allowed to take place in San Francisco and Portland. We are truly engaged in a war of right and wrong.
I personally feel we need to pull the troops out of Iraq and bring them to Portland and San Francisco to restore right for the people and to stop the greater threat. I believe the people of the State of Oregon should call on our governor to stop gay marriages. If he refuses to act, we should demand his departure from office.
This problem must be addressed immediately. There is no one who would consider it OK for a grown man to marry a six-year-old girl. Why?
Because it is against our beliefs and core values–so is gay marriage!
Sincerely,
Pastor J.D. Batchelor
Don Ware, editor of the Brownsville Times says he supports a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as that between a man and a woman.
He noted in an editorial last week:
?I have friends who are gay. I have admiration when two gay persons remain true to one another after they make a commitment to do so. Too many heterosexual men and women do not remain true to their vows of marriage. Heterosexuals damage the institution of marriage as much as any gay movement might…
Marriage is a commitment of a man and a woman to merge together as a family and to remain true to each other. When that is honored by both, our society benefits mightily. When it is ignored, when persons can?t abide by the commitments they make, when they prove dishonest by breaking those vows, then the institution of marriage is harmed.?
While we have many religions in our great nation, we are primarily Christian-based and the Bible makes it clear that homosexuality is not to be celebrated.
Although, some religious groups are now accepting homosexual leaders, the majority are not.
The silent majority of Americans, while not wishing harm to homosexuals, do not believe same-sex marriages should be condoned by the state, although the percentage of those against such unions is higher among older persons.
Neither do we.
As for the Multnomah County Commssioners, calling a peach an apple doesn?t make it so.