Oregon Marriage Law: What the State Constitution says…
The following marriages are prohibited; and, if solemnized within this state, are absolutely void:
(1) When either party thereto had a wife or husband living at the time of such marriage. (2) When the parties thereto are first cousins or any nearer of kin to each other, whether of the whole or half blood, whether by blood or adoption, computing by the rules of the civil law, except that when the parties are first cousins by adoption only, the marriage is not prohibited or void.
(1) “Domestic partnership” means a civil contract described in ORS 106.300 to 106.340 entered into in person between two individuals of the same sex who are at least 18 years of age, who are otherwise capable and at least one of whom is a resident of Oregon. 106.020 Prohibited and void marriages
(1) “Domestic partnership” means a civil contract described in ORS 106.300 to 106.340 entered into in person between two individuals of the same sex who are at least 18 years of age, who are otherwise capable and at least one of whom is a resident of Oregon. 106.020 Prohibited and void marriages
Source: Oregon State Constitution
I don't understand why we vote on something like gay marriage. I understand why we vote on laws that protect people, to help America. But i don't think its fair the my neighbor gets to choose whether or not I get to marry the person I love. That means hundred of strangers in the state I live in are saying no, to my happiness. Why is it any of their business. Its love people. It only hurts the people who are in it.
The Old Testament’s prohibition on homosexual activity was not the cruel imposition of a dictator, but the wise provision of a loving God who desired to see His chosen people grow in love. Perhaps (though there is no explicit evidence for this in the text) at some point the intensity of David and Jonathan’s affection for each other might have spilled over into sexual temptations. If so, the “delight in the law of the Lord” which moved David to song protected them from sin and kept their souls knit together in a pure and spiritual love.
In the same way, by declaring the “truth of God” that homosexual acts are sinful, the New Testament helps those of us who struggle with same-sex attractions to discover what it means to “worship the Father in spirit and in truth.”
But because love is the heart of the Gospel, Satan always tries to fool us with counterfeits of true love. Against these counterfeits, the Apostles and Prophets warn us again and again. God is love, and so nothing that is against His will can be love. He only approves of certain kinds of love, but punishes His people for loving idols, foreign women in the case of Israel, foreign deities, multiple wives, money, sexual love between close relations (incest), etc.
We do not always understand these prohibitions; God’s reasons for forbidding gay relationships may seem like dim shadow in a mirror to us when we first confront them. But it is love, not understanding, which God most desires from us. To place our hopes in Him even when we do not understand His ways is a mark of great faith, and even greater love.
It is not an easy path, and just as the Apostle Paul expressed the struggle between flesh and spirit, all of us will face struggles. But when we struggle, or when we fail, we should not lose hope. Rather, we should remember that Jesus said even of the soldiers who killed Him, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). And even when we fall again and again to the same familiar sins, we should remember that Christ told Peter to forgive others not seven times, but seventy times seven times (cf. Matthew 18:22). If God commands such mercy from us, how much more will He, who is Mercy Himself, show mercy to us in our weakness?
It also brought alive an important theme from the Psalms, the great prayerbook of the People of God: “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers” (Psalms 1:1-3). For those who follow the Law with all their heart, it becomes a source of life, strength, and peace of spirit.
I Agree I Think ALL States Should Allow Us To Marry Whoever We Want!!!! My partner Sabreena have Been In Love For 6 years but together for only 3 And we want to get married but it’s against the law in this state.
Oh, oops. I see the color code now….was obscured. STILL—Washington is OUT OF DATE…my previous comment applies. Please change.
This is totally inaccurate. Oregon is NOT a state that affords the right of Gay Marriage. Please change the map. My hopes were just totally dashed after looking this up further! Please don't leave more of us West Coasters so crestfallen!!
You are so right. I don't get why people have to put their noses into others private life.
Hello, I am 18 years old and I am gay, When I was little everyone would talk about the day they got married, most would talk about how they would find the "right" man/ women that were a different sex then them self's. At the age of 12 I realized that I liked both sexes, then slowly but shirley i found out that I in-fact only really liked girls. I am now 18 and I have found the "right" one, it just so happens that she is also a girl just like me.
I have been told all my life that we live in America to be free and make up our own minds about what religan we want to be a part of, what schools we want to go to, what jobs we want to do and what age we want to marry.
I am now told that I can not marry the person that I love because we are both women, I and my Fiancée where both born in America and told we where to be free to make up our minds about what we would do with our lives….. and now we cant even be recognized but the state we live in as a married couple because of other people pushing their thoughts about us to make it so we cant be happily married to each other……
this is what marriage means just so people realized what it really is in stead of how everyone is acting like it is.
Gay marriage- the state of being united to a person of the same sex in a relationship like that of a traditional marriage
Straight marriage-the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law
the only thing different about the two is one is a man and a women and the other is two same sex people….
love knows no gender so who are we to say that one person cant love another of the same sex and why is it everyone else's thoughts that are put into it. A marriage is between two people, not the whole world, so don't get in the way of people trying to be happy because its not any ones place to say yes or no unless its you that is being asked to spend the rest of your life with another person.
I say this because its right whether I'm Gay, Straight, Blue or Purple, Im human and happy.
That's all that should matter.