This is part one of a two-part report on what 2005 brought for Oregon's gay community and what is coming for Oregon's gay rights movement in 2006. Part two is now availabble and can be viewed here.

In 2004, a movement and a community that had been accustomed to fending off attacks for decades - finally held in its hand, a little bit of what is possible if everyone was treated equally under the law. The positive thing about it was that it made the community hungry and impatient for nothing less than full equality in a way that had not yet been possible.

Following this euphoria, thought, the community had to get real about what creates long term change. What creates long term, lasting change is partially big moments of glory like that in Multnomah County and around the country in 2004 as thousands of couples wed, but more often it is years of perseverance and the willingness to work as hard as ever for small victories. The victories may not be as sexy, nor as glorious as full equality, nonetheless they are all victories.

"We should not minimize the small victories we achieve each day in this movement, because a lot of effort from everyone in this movement goes into even those small wins. These small victories are like rungs on a ladder", Rebekah Kassell of Basic Rights Oregon tells GayRightsWatch.com. "With each step we move up, and each step makes it easier to get to the next. At this time we need to climb a series of ladders - some one right after the next; some simultaneously."

As we take a look back at the year that was 2005, we saw a slight positive change in public opinion regarding marriage equality in Oregon and, despite a ballot measure loss in 2004 that many said would put a damper on the movement, a big increase in visibility and activism. Whereas in the past, about less than 100 activists would show up to lobby or rally at the capitol in any given year, this year the numbers swelled to thousands - I personally witnessed many with more than one-thousand people in attendance at various capitol events demanding equal treatment under the law.

In 2005, we saw the most progress to date on GLBT issues. Think back to Senate Bill 1000. Never in history had every single legislator been lobbied from constituents in their districts on a GLBT rights bill. This year that happened. We saw bi-partisan support on our bill and issues, even support from rural Republicans. Every single hearing on SB1000 was packed. Supporters of fairness and equality outnumbered the opposition at each one of those hearings, giving truly remarkable testimony. We outnumbered the opposition in the number of clergy, as well as business persons, that wanted to see our bill passed.

2005 also marked the first time that any governor in the United States had sponsored and pushed forward a bill like SB1000. Some have been critical of the Governor and while we won't get into those criticisms here, the Governor's actions were not insignificant. Thank you Gov. Kulongoski.

This past year also marked one of the most historic events in the history of the gay rights movement in Oregon. SB1000 passed the Oregon State Senate with bi-partisan support. The first time such legislation had even been given a committee hearing - let alone pass in one of the chambers.

And we had the votes to pass the bill if it had come to a vote on the floor of the Oregon House. While we all know and are disappointed that that didn't happen, even the actions of Speaker of the House Karen Minnis who singlehandedly blocked the bill from becoming the law represent a victory of sorts, "When it came to the Oregon House, we had a Speaker of the House whose actions indicated that she knew SB1000 had achieved a level of support even in the Republican-controlled House that scared her enough to take extreme measures to block our legislation from receiving a debate or vote in the House," Kassell said. "That in and of itself says that we have established a level of political power and credibility that allows all of us in Oregon to take this movement to the next level."

We've put together an archive of all of our coverage during SB1000. I encourage you to take a look back. Click here to view it. (opens in new window)

In 2005, Martinez v. State of Oregon was filed by roughly a dozen Oregon couples and clergy by attorneys for Basic Rights Oregon. This lawsuit challenged the constitutionality of the notoriously anti-gay and anti-family Measure 36. Though we lost in the first round, we still have more rounds to go in this case as it heads to the Oregon Supreme Court and the decision at the lower court level is said by legal experts to position our side for a strong fight in the Oregon Court of Appeals. Arguments in that case are expected to take place mid-summer.

Some in the movement have taken a nay-sayers approach--noting that we've done all this work and yet still have no tangible change in the law. If our movement was only a year-by-year effort, I might agree, but the fact is, it's not. This is a decades long struggle that began long before this movement and will continue long after. And, I don't think we can minimize the important work that is being done to get us one step closer to equality each day.

Basic Rights Oregon's Rebekah Kassell says, "It's easy to dismiss all of these accomplishments over the past year as simply being BRO or legislative or legal PR spin - but the fact is that everyone who lobbied, contributed time or money or participated in any way deserve credit for these victories. In every civil rights movement there are always wins and losses. Right now the losses may seem more significant than they in fact are in the long run and our wins may seem insignificant now to many but will surely prove to be more defining than even we realize now, as we look back on what was."

Post by Bryan Harding

Check back Friday for part two in this report. "2006: What's Next for Oregon's Gay Rights Movement"

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 28, 2005 at 3:20 PM. Want to discuss? Leave a comment below.