Oregon Weighs Civil Unions VS. Reciprocal Benefits

SALEM, OR () --Oregon Senate Democrats are pushing for the state to follow Vermont's lead by giving same-sex couples the same rights as married couples, but without giving them the actual title.

House Republicans, however, want Oregon to follow the same path as Hawaii, which has a so-called "reciprocal benefits" law which gives couples that have lived together for a long time, gay or straight, a limited number of rights.

The controversy started when Multnomah County commissioners issued marriage licenses to about 3,000 gay couples over six weeks last year. Even though a Oregon Supreme Court decision recently invalidated those marriages, law makers are trying to come up with either a civil union or reciprocal benefits law to fill the void.

The civil unions bill, which is backed by Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski as well as Republican Senators Frank Morse of Albany and Ben Westlund of Bend, would extend "hundreds of legal benefits not currently covered under Oregon law," to gay couples, Senate Majority Leader Kate Brown, D-Portland, said.

Benefits as disparate as the option to share a room in a long-term care facility and the right of a partner of a terrorism victim to receive compensation, would be covered by the law. It is unclear how much support a civil unions bill would get though in the Republican-dominated House.

Rep. Dennis Richardson, R-Central Point, is advocating the reciprocal benefits plan which he claims would cover areas like "inheritance issues, property ownership, bank account issues."

"It is important for the House to respond in a limited and appropriate manner," he said. "The goal is to do so based on issues of fairness."

According to Richardson, Reciprocal benefits would extend equally to gay couples and to households like that of two elderly cousins, who have lived together for years.

"Reciprocal benefits does not recognize the long-term relationship of a same-sex couple; it is missing the love-partnership-sex piece," Brown said. "It doesn't deal with the legal issues involving children, separations, support, visitation, adoption. This is not the vehicle I would use to provide legal protections for a same-sex couple."

Richardson, meanwhile, said he sees the civil unions bill as an affront to the 57 percent of Oregonians who voted in favor of Measure 36, which banned same-sex marriage in the state.

"In my opinion, (civil unions) flouts the vote of the people on Measure 36," Richardson said. "The purpose of (reciprocal benefits) is not to satisfy the gay rights demands. It is to provide for issues of fairness that goes beyond sexual orientation."