PORTLAND -- Standing in a cold, gray rain yesterday, hundreds of gay and lesbian couples waited for a chance to step into history by signing marriage licenses in Oregon's largest city, joining a small but growing number of municipalities in the country that allow same-sex couples to wed.
By late yesterday afternoon, more than 422 couples had left a Multnomah County building, many waving their cream-colored licenses in triumph. Ninety percent of those licenses went to same-sex couples, and by 4:45 p.m., eight ministers had performed more than 75 gay weddings. The ministers vowed to work into the night to accommodate those who wanted to wed.
Some couples were so overcome with emotion, they asked to be married on the spot by a rabbi who stood in front of the county administration building, rather than waiting for the mass wedding that would be held later that afternoon.
At the request of Basic Rights Oregon, a gay-rights group, Multnomah County Attorney Agnes Sowle had examined the legality of gay marriage under the state constitution and issued an opinion Tuesday evening supporting it. Word of her decision Tuesday evening spurred many same-sex couples and their families to drop everything and race to Portland.
David Haracz and his wife, Laurie Clark, stood tearfully to the side as their son, Duncan, 19, married his partner, Corrigan Gommenginger, also 19. The four had driven down from Seattle early in the morning for the ceremony.
"Of course, 19 is too young to be married," Laurie Clark said. "I certainly wasn't ready to be married at that age, but I'm so happy he has this opportunity. He should have the right to do it if he wants."
But Karen Minnis, speaker of the state House Representatives, was already calling upon Gov. Ted Kulongoski and state Attorney General Hardy Myers to halt the proceedings. Myers' spokesman, Kevin Neely, said a decision on the legality of same-sex marriages would be forthcoming within a few days.
Diane Linn, who chairs the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners and supported its actions, said in a news conference that she had received a number of "hateful" messages via voice and e-mail, decrying the measure.
Meanwhile, outside the county building, a handful of protesters shouted at onlookers and couples. They criticized the board's methods as much as its decision.
Four of the five commissioners -- all women -- had excluded the board's sole male member, Lonnie Roberts, from any discussion on the matter of legalizing gay marriage. Roberts, who represents a comparatively conservative district, is upfront about his disapproval of same-sex marriage but said there should have been an open exchange of views on a decision of such magnitude.
He called the board's methods "clandestine"' and "divisive," and said he'd only learned of his colleagues' decision Tuesday night when a sheriff called him to warn of beefed-up security the next day at work.
Such precautions were hardly necessary. Crowds were joyous and orderly throughout the day. They smiled at the handful of angry citizens venting rage.
"God hates what you just did. It's disgusting," shrieked a man who gave his name as Grant Mercy, shouting when Eric Warshaw and Steven Knox left the county building with their marriage license.
The crowd of couples merely smiled back and waved their bouquets at Warshaw and Knox, who were married a few moments later by former state Supreme Court Justice Betty Roberts. Both men are physicians from Portland and are raising three children.
"The time has long passed when all committed couples, regardless of sexual orientation, should have access to the benefits and responsibilities of marriage in the state of Oregon," said Roberts, adding that her decision to participate stemmed from "the moral obligation I feel to eliminate discrimination in all of its ugly forms."
Several blocks away, Mike Mauck stood outside the county building, holding a small Bible and shaking his head.
"It's the breakdown of our civilization," he said.
"We don't even hear the protesters," said Nikki Plaid, 29, an event planner from Seattle, who raced down Interstate 5 to Portland with Tanya Tarnecki, 27, her partner of more than five years. "They don't matter today. What we hear is our fellow community. Today is about love."
Many of those waiting in line said President Bush's vow to seek a constitutional amendment barring gay marriage had galvanized the support of people who might not necessarily condone same-sex unions but loathed governmental meddling even more.
"That was such an incredible, impossible thing to do, he did us a favor," said Julie Ruhalen, waiting in line for a marriage license. "There's people who don't really want gay marriages, but they don't want to amend the Constitution either."
Several of the county commissioners likened their position to those taken during the civil-rights movement of the early 1960s, pointing to the U.S. Supreme Court's striking down a law prohibiting interracial marriage in 1964 as a similar injustice that was righted.
County Commissioner Lisa Naito, a lawyer and former county prosecutor, said, "Our actions today demonstrate our commitment to civil rights."
"This is an incredible moment in history," said Roey Thorpe, executive director of Basic Rights Oregon, after the first couple to marry, Mary Li, 40, and Becky Kennedy, 42, exchanged their vows.
Li, who wore a pale silk shawl and pearls, said she considered herself a pioneer.
"We are one in a long line of folks fighting for our civil rights," she said, hugging the Portland couple's baby girl, Ava.
"To your courage, to your willingness to step forward, to your commitment and to your willingness to spend the rest of your lives together," said Thorpe, toasting the newlyweds.
