Religious Left

Today, the Secretary of State announced that at least one of the petitions did not gather enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. The petition, which would force a referendum on legalizing domestic partnerships for same-sex couples, fell just 116 signatures short of the required 55,179. "This is a proud day for Oregon," Basic Rights Oregon executive director John Hummel said in response to the news. "In refusing to sign these petitions, Oregonians showed that they aren't interested in rolling back our anti-discrimination laws." Hummel said the failure of anti-gay groups to meet a very low signature threshold is clear evidence that the groups are out of step with Oregon values. No word yet on Referendum #304, which would put another recently passed law banning discrimination based on sexual orientation on next year's ballot.

As we know Oregon anti-gay activist were recently on a petition drive and claimed to turn in 63,000 signatures. The Oregon Secretary of State's office says there are 60,531 valid signatures. That doesn’t mean they’ve made the ballot, though. “Now they go to the counties for statistical sampling,” explains the secretary of state’s Mary Conley. A record shattering 91.2 percent of those signatures would have to be valid in order for the issue to go to next fall’s ballot. The average validity rate is usually in the 70 percent range, so it's not looking good for those folks. They need 55,179 valid signatures.

Regarding the anti-gay movement in Oregon to petition new Gay rights laws the Portland Mercury (newspaper) dispatched writers to check out five Portland-area evangelical churches—churches whose pastors helped organize the "Pastors and Religious Leaders Day at the Capitol" against these same gay rights bills on April 5—to see how the campaign is going. Would hundreds of Christians be lined up to sign against equality, or is the campaign truly faltering? http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/Content?oid=400391&category=34029