The National Organization for Marriage
(NOM) on Monday filed for, and was denied, an emergency stay of a
federal judge's pending ruling on Oregon's ban on gay marriage.
U.S. District Judge Michael McShane
announced Friday he intends to file his ruling in a challenge to the
state's ban on Monday at noon.
All parties present during an April 23
hearing, including the state, called on McShane to strike down
Oregon's 2004 voter-approved constitutional amendment limiting
marriage to heterosexual couples.
McShane rejected NOM's request to
intervene in the case.
NOM asked the Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals in San Francisco to stay proceedings in the case or stay the
ruling.
“Appellant's emergency motion to stay
district court proceedings pending appeal is denied,” the
appeals court said.
NOM argued in its brief that its
members will likely suffer irreparable harm in the absence of a stay.
“NOM alleged that its members who
provide wedding services would be forced by Oregon's public
accommodation law to facilitate marriage ceremonies in violation of
their sincerely held religious beliefs or cease providing wedding
services as part of their businesses,” the
brief states. “Either alternative is an irreparable harm.”
In
a blog post, NOM President Brian Brown said the case was “an
ugly example of inappropriate cooperation between the Attorney
General and the gay marriage lobby, both of whom want to redefine
marriage in contravention of the overwhelming decision of the people
to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.”
“The people of Oregon are entitled to
a defense of their decision on marriage rather than being abandoned
in Court,” Brown added.
Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum
asked
the appeals court not to issue a temporary stay, saying the state
was prepared “to follow the court's directives and counties stand
ready to begin issuing marriage certificates to same-sex couples
otherwise qualified to marry should the district court strike down
Oregon's ban on same-sex marriage.”
(Documents provided by Equality
Case Files.)