Oregonian gays greeted the new year with a good old fashioned vigil. Hundreds of people across the state gathered at Portland's community center Wednesday to protest a judge's domestic partner prohibition.

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It's not such a happy new year for gay Oregonians. The state's legislature passed domestic partner laws earlier this year, laws which were to go into effect tomorrow. Unfortunately a state judge has decided to reconsider the controversial legislation:

A federal judge on Friday placed on hold a state domestic partnership law that was set to take effect Jan. 1, pending a February hearing.

The law would give some spousal rights to same-sex couples.

Opponents asked U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman to intercede after the Oregon secretary of state's office ruled in October that they had failed to collect enough valid signatures on a referendum to block the law.
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After the Legislature approved the domestic partnership law this year, gay rights opponents launched an effort to collect enough signatures to suspend the law and place it on the November 2008 ballot for a statewide vote.

But state elections officials said this fall that the effort fell 116 valid signatures short of the 55,179 needed to suspend the law.

Anti-gay activists argue that the state's "process was flawed," according to the AP. The Alliance Defense Fund says officials "disenfranchised" concerned citizens. Judge Mosman agreed.

The battle continues…

Some people just don't know when to quit! Oregonian lawmakers voted this year to allow domestic partnerships, which go into effect on January 1, 2008. A number of anti-gay activists, however, are using the next few days to piss on the equality party.

From Edge Boston:

…Anti-gay activists are targeting the state with a federal lawsuit, alleging that signatures were illegally declared invalid on a petition to require that the civil unions law be subject to a vote during next year’s election, rather than passed by state legislators and signed into law by the governor.

The right wingers have also been publishing a series of articles meant to scare out the vote, including a piece that says gay prisoners will be given preferential treatment over straight prisoners.

You know things are bad when activists are using prisoners as their model citizens.

Despite their best efforts, Oregon's anti-gay activists did not get enough signatures to block the state's domestic partner laws. Social conservatives launched their effort earlier this year after the legislature voted for the trimmed down nuptial rights.

State election officials say opponents failed to turn in enough signatures to block Oregon's domestic-partnership law for same-sex couples.

State elections officials reported Monday that the effort fell 116 valid signatures short of the 55,179 needed to suspend the law and place it on the November 2008 ballot for a popular vote.

That means that as of Jan. 1, Oregon will join eight other states that have approved spousal rights in some form for same-sex couples: Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Maine, California, Washington and Hawaii. Massachusetts is the only state that allows gay couples to marry.

Basic Rights Oregon's executive director John Hummel celebrated the petition's failure, saying, "In refusing to sign these petitions, Oregonians showed that they aren't interested in rolling back our anti-discrimination laws." Hummel may be getting ahead of himself. Another petition's circulating to take down anti-discrimination laws, but insiders also suspect that lacks the signatures.

Talk about sick. Anti-gay activist and Concerned Oregonian president David Crowe called an investigation into his organization's election fund raising "Oregon's own 9/11" and "an attack within our borders."

Crowe and his cronies are accused by Basic Rights Oregon, a gay rights group, of inappropriately soliciting funds to fuel their anti-gay agenda. Crowe allegedly told contributors they would receive a "dollar-to-dollar" political tax credit for their donations, a violation of state law. Rather than proving his case, Crowe decided to mine America's collective memory to turn the tables on BRO. Always ready to fight the good fight, BRO's executive director John Hummel's fighting back:

This comparison is incredibly disrespectful not only to the mourning of our nation but to the families of those who died and to those who fought so hard to saves lives at Ground Zero. For David Crowe to compare his own self-inflicted legal troubles to the events of 9/11 is beyond comprehension, purely reprehensible and downright bizarre.

Not to mention totally tacky.

Read Basic Rights Oregon's entire press release, after the jump.

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44-year old Oregonian William Gerald Collins will spend the next 25-years in prison for raping his 11-year old step son dozens of times. It all started when his marriage started to crumble. Rather than accept defeat, Collins started raping the boy to "turn him gay," to prevent his wife from having grandchildren. Fucking sicko idiot.

This vengeful attitude certainly didn't play out well in court, where prosecutors and the judge blasted Collins' selfish, violent acts. Deputy District Attorney Andrew Erwin said, "This was not a pedophile who can't control his actions. This was an evil, calculated plan by the defendant to not only destroy one life but two."

Collins reportedly cried after hearing the sentence and promises he's learning his lesson. And he'll continue to learn it in prison, where convicts don't take well to child molesters.

Who won't be having grandchildren now?

Oregonian gays grabbed some ink last week when they compiled a list of residents who sign an anti-gay petition. The targeted signatories hope to overturn some of the state's "pro-gay" measures.

A lovely woman named Marsha West wrote a Conservative Voice piece taking on gay activists and their so-called lies:

Some homosexual groups would have us believe that those who alert the public to the horrendous diseases inherent in sodomy are extremists when, in fact, they’re only trying to educate those who are not being told the truth.

Those who spread misinformation about sodomy, i.e., it is a normal and natural sexual practice, are deliberately deceiving the public, as sodomy is both unsafe and unhealthy and could ultimately destroy one’s health and well being.

Interesting theory, West, but we're thinking anti-gay rhetoric counts as a little more unsafe than a bit of anal action. We're sure it's hard for you to understand - you did, after all, agree with your conservative comrades in calling the ACLU the "most dangerous organizations in America". If it weren't for them, of course, you wouldn't be able to write such drivel.

Oregonian gay activists are outing their homo-hating neighbors:

…Know Thy Neighbor announced plans Tuesday to publicize the name of everyone who signs referendum petitions to overturn two gay-rights bills passed by the Legislature this year.

A coalition of conservative Christians is circulating petitions to put the two measures before voters in the November 2008 election. That would enable Oregon voters to decide whether to grant marriage-style rights to same-sex couples via domestic partnerships, and whether to ban discrimination against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people.

Know Thy Neighbor pledged to launch a new Web site that will list the petition signers' names and addresses.

This obviously isn't KTN's first time in the rodeo…

Gay rights took one step forward in Oregon yesterday when Judge Eric Bloch ruled that state parental rights laws violate the constitution. The laws stated that only a married couple can legally register as a child's parents. Jean Frazzini and K.D. Parman, a lesbian couple who have a four year old, artificially inseminated child, filed a lawsuit after the hospital refused to include Frazzini's name on the baby's birth certificate.

In filing their suit, the litigious ladies referenced 1998's Tanner v. OHSU, which wrote that married straights cannot have rights while gays' languish. Judge Bloch agreed and declared yesterday that Oregon's current parenting rights laws violate the womens' - and other gays' - rights. He did not, however, issue an order for the laws to be changed.

Rather, Bloch's putting his eggs in Oregon's domestic partnership bill basket.

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One almost feels bad for 64-year old Gary Sparks. Almost.

The Oregonian gay allegedly swiped $400,000 from real estate investors for a much younger homo hustler.

Sparks is accused of taking the 23-year-old man on extravagant shopping sprees in Portland and Hollywood, Calif. — spending $72,000 on a Mercedes convertible, $9,000 on a Rolex watch, $41,000 for a one-year lease on a West Hollywood apartment, $3,000 on a Louis Vuitton gym bag and more than $40,000 on clothes from high-end retailers such as Saks Fifth Avenue. And after buying all those clothes, Sparks spent another $2,000 getting them altered.

Police says Sparks, a former teacher who divorced his wife five years ago, fell in love with the young hustler. Unfortunately, things went south when he ran out of dough and the hustler ran out on him.

Poor thing. Literally.

Our celebrity loving cousin Mollygood took some time away from Britney, Lindsay and the rest to feature this Oregonian guppie.

Now, we're taking some time away from the gays, dykes and the rest to feature the same Oregonian guppie. Why? Because he's the coolest fucking kid in the world. Or an actual zombie. We can't tell.

An unidentified Oregon bus driver will face unspecified disciplinary charges after kicking two lesbian teens to the curb last week.

Maika Rich and Jocelyn O'Neal were kissing on the public bus when a female commuter complained. The driver asked them to stop, which they did, but went crazy when he saw the girls holding hands. The man then pulled over and left the 14-year old girls on the side of the road.

Transport officials have now handed down a punishment, but haven't revealed the details. TriMet spokeswoman Mary Flesch told the press: "The riders' actions did not warrant being removed from the bus, and TriMet policy requires operators to call for assistance before removing a minor off the bus." Well, that's refreshing…

Being a queer teen may be one of the hardest things in the world. You're confused, lonely and often on the receiving end of some pretty rude insults. Luckily for Portland teens Maika Rich and Jocelyn O'Neal, they found one another and started a little lesbian love affair. Not surprisingly, not everyone's down with their struggle for stability. What is surpising, however, is that one such person - a city bus driver - used their faggotry to kick them to the curb.

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