Eric Stoller's Blog

via Basic Rights Oregon:

Today, after nearly 4 hours of debate on the House floor, both The Oregon Family Fairness Act (House Bill 2007) and The Oregon Equality Act (Senate Bill 2) passed the Oregon House with bipartisan support.

Senate Bill 2 will ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in areas such as employment, housing, public accommodation and public education.

House Bill 2007 will create a new statute in Oregon law, separate from Oregon’s marriage statutes, to provide same-sex couples with Domestic Partnerships. These Domestic Partnerships provide Oregon’s same-sex couples and their families with many of the basic protections, rights, and responsibilities under state law, currently only afforded through a marriage contract. It differs substantially from marriage in several ways – including that the protections of Domestic Partnerships are not portable outside the boundaries of Oregon.

The Next Steps:
House Bill 2007 will now move to the Oregon Senate for committee hearing and floor vote. Senate Bill 2, which passed the Senate on March 21st in a vote of 21-7, will go back to the Senate for a concurrence vote on amendments to the religious exemption made in the House Rules Committee.

If passed in the Senate, as expected, the bills will be sent to Governor Kulongoski, who has pledged to sign both pieces of legislation.

Related posts:

1. Oregon Domestic Partnership Law
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3. One more reason
4. Expanding Hate Crimes Definition
5. Federally Recognized Gay Marriage