The quiet,
tourism-oriented town of Troutdale, Ore., could become
a battleground as gay rights activists prepare a
campaign to topple a Republican legislative leader who
thwarted a move to allow civil unions for same-sex couples.
Troutdale is in the heart of the district
represented by GOP house speaker Karen Minnis, who
enraged gay rights backers this summer by refusing to
let the Oregon house vote on a civil unions bill that had
been passed by the state senate with the blessing of the
Democratic governor.
State and national gay rights groups are
targeting Minnis for defeat in 2006 as part of an
effort to elect more gay-friendly legislators and
defeat lawmakers who have opposed giving more rights to gays
and lesbians.
A spokesman for a national gay rights group in
Washington, D.C., said Oregon is one of several states
where bills to provide more rights to gays and
lesbians have faltered and where activists will be working
to defeat lawmakers who stood in the way of those
measures. "There are a handful of states where a
change in a couple of seats could make a big
difference," said David Smith of the Human Rights Campaign.
"And you could choose no finer example of that than
house speaker Karen Minnis."
The civil unions controversy is the latest
chapter in Oregon's same-sex marriage debate that
began in early 2004, when Multnomah County issued
marriage licenses to 3,000 same-sex couples before a judge
ordered the county to stop. Last fall Oregon voters
approved a constitutional ban on gay marriage. It was
one of 11 states to pass similar ballot measures.
Minnis knows
she's in for a tough reelection fight because of her stand
against the civil unions bill, which would have allowed
same-sex couples to gain most of the benefits of
marriage. "They're coming after me," she said during
an interview in Troutdale. "I think they are going to
attack me personally at every given turn."
At least on
paper, Minnis would appear to be vulnerable to a concerted,
well-funded effort by gay rights groups. Democrats hold an
8% voter registration edge in Minnis's house district
in eastern Multnomah County. And Democrat Rob Brading,
who lost to Minnis by 6% in 2004, plans to run against
her again next year in what promises to be a higher-profile race.
But Minnis has a big name advantage--she's
in her fourth term and succeeded her husband, John
Minnis, who served six house terms in the seat before
she first was elected in 1998.
Troutdale mayor Paul Thalhofer, a registered
Democrat who supported Minnis's opponent in 2004, said
he plans to back the Republican speaker next
year--even though he personally supports allowing
civil unions for same-sex couples. Thalhofer said
Minnis has done a good job of representing the
district's interests in the legislature on most other
issues and that gay rights activists will have a tough time
trying to defeat her next year. "She is quite popular
in the district," the mayor said. "It will be
difficult for those groups to turn enough voters
against her to make a difference."
In refusing to let the civil unions bill come up
for a house vote, Minnis argued that it would violate
the spirit of the constitutional ban on same-sex
marriage passed by Oregon voters last November. The state's
leading gay rights group, Basic Rights Oregon, argues that
public opinion polls indicate growing support among
Oregonians for civil unions and that Minnis thwarted
the democratic process by not allowing the house to vote
on the senate-passed bill.
Basic Rights
spokeswoman Rebekah Kassell said her group will become
involved in various legislative races next year, not just
the Minnis race, because changing only one seat in the
house wouldn't improve the chances of pro-gay rights
legislation passing in the future. She noted that in
neighboring Washington State, a bill banning discrimination
against gays and lesbians in housing, employment, and
insurance failed by just one vote in the state senate
earlier this year. It was one of several setbacks for
gay rights supporters in state capitals this year.
In Delaware, for example, a house-approved
measure prohibiting discrimination based on sexual
orientation was left in limbo as the legislature
adjourned. And bills to ban discrimination against gays in
Colorado and to legalize same-sex marriage in California
were vetoed by the governors of those states.
Smith, the Human
Rights Campaign's spokesman, declined for "strategic"
reasons to list the states other than Oregon where gay
rights backers plan to become actively involved in election
contests in 2006. But he said it will be a more
concerted election effort than in the past, reflecting
a "political maturing" of the gay rights movement. "It
will be done on a much broader scope nationwide,"
Smith said. (AP)