Goal of promoting stable families constituted legitimate state interest, but this goal would not be burdened by overturning Oregon’s same‑sex marriage prohibition, and thus prohibition could not survive rational basis review on this ground on four homosexual couples’ equal protection challenge; state’s interest in promoting stable families did not stop with families of opposite‑gender couples, which state acknowledged by enabling homosexual couples to enter domestic partnerships, even though state further acknowledged that such partnerships were not equal to civil marriage.
Read opinion (freedomtomarry.org)
Laura W. Morgan is the owner and operator at Family Law Consulting in Charlottesville, Virginia. Laura is available for consultation, brief writing and research on family law issues throughout the country. She can be reached through her website: www.
