Oregon to Vote on Same-Sex Marriage Next Year
Officials from the LGBT rights group, Oregon United for Marriage, announced on Tuesday that they have gained enough signatures to place a marriage equality initiative on the November 2014 ballot, which will give Oregon voters the chance to repeal a ban on gay marriage, the Daily Kos reports.
"It's been just four months since we started gathering signatures on the Freedom to Marry and Religious Protection Initiative," Ryan Brown, the group's field director, said. "Thanks to volunteer signature gatherers in every Oregon county, I have some amazing news to share: We have over 116,284 signatures in hand!"
Though Oregon United for Marriage has enough signatures, the group will continue gathering signatures just in case they fail to qualify due to invalid or duplicate signatures.
If the state's voters do repeal the ban next year, Oregon would become the first state to do so, the Daily Kos reports.
"The prospects for that look good at this point, with the phenomenal success of the petition drive so far," the publication writes. "But the fact that Oregon would be the first to repeal means that the bigots are going to be out in full force and with lots of money to fight."
Oregon voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2004 that effectively prohibited same-sex couples from getting legally married.