Legislative Referral on Marriage Equity? No.

Carla Hanson

A legislative referral is not the answer to correcting Oregon's problem of marriage inequality.

... and it is not feasible or realistic.

Wanting the Oregon Legislature to do its thing sounds simple and efficient. They pass a referendum for voters to declare Measure 36 dead and then we'll just relax for a while, and then go vote correctly later, right? This all sounds neat and tidy and would seem to be less costly, but here's just a few of the many variables that play in...

With an initiative effort, early engagement is built in. While an 11 month statewide signature drive is rigorous and demanding work, the end result is more than just a question on a ballot.

Through the effort of a signature drive...

The financial burden of running an initiative effort should be looked at in terms of the overall campaign. Yes, donations will be sought and received early, but it's not as if there are no rewards for this early effort. The campaign IS on; the initiative effort IS part of it, and it's not simply a matter of signature gathering, but as mentioned, early and ongoing voter interaction. This pays BACK in dividends.

Don't forget that in the past years, BRO has put considerable funding into an effective media campaign that introduced the Oregon audience to GLBT families. In this next year, we'd still have to be talking gay. In a huge way, the signature drive allows 1000s of Oregonians to do the same thing, and ultimately, the one on one contact is always more effective than the happiest face yapping to you from the TV.

BRO has spent an extraordinary amount of time and effort carefully polling, evaluating and strategizing about the proper movement forward that will result in victory. While the SCOTUS decisions are positives, they certainly do not dictate that we abandon the well thought out course of action. The very expectation that we'd automatically win by changing course with a Leg. referral (or more dramatically, a referral and an election in Nov. 2013) is a naive view from 30,000 feet.

BRO and allies have long investigated the ground-level view, with the ultimate question being not "Can we win?" but "Will we win?" While BRO folks have met with criticism that has described them as overly cautious, BRO is absolutely spot-on in its perspective that this battle can be only taken on once, and MUST be won. The BRO/Oregon United for Marriage plan includes an initiative effort that officially begins the campaign on July 20th.

I like our odds much better with real campaign work beginning NOW instead of next year.

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