THE PAPER ANNIVERSARY: Editorial from The Oregonian

The 50th wedding anniversary is golden, the 25th is silver but the first, we tend to forget, is not symbolized by metal. The traditional gift material is thin and flimsy, easily torn, crumpled or thrown away: Paper.

Sadly, it fits, almost too perfectly, the first anniversary that 3,000 gay and lesbian couples will mark this week. One year ago, they began lining up for a precious piece of paper -- a marriage license -- handed out by Multnomah County even though the county had no right to give it out.

In the year since, Oregonians have rejected gay marriage. But our state can still respect gay commitment. ...

Critics say civil unions exemplify the separate but equal doctrine used to justify segregation in the South, but it's a "facile and deeply wrong" comparison, suggests Yale law professor William Eskridge Jr., an expert on civil unions.

The difference? As both Eskridge and Moats have argued, "separate but equal" was a legal doctrine used to mask inequality. Vermont used the term "civil union" to mask equality.

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posted by Eve at 7:26 PM VOTE

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