Valentine's Day: An Update on Basic Rights Oregon's "Cards from the Heart" Campaign

By STACY BROWNHILL

If you're in a Valentine's Day kind of mood and liked our love story a couple weeks ago about former Catholic priest Jim Stephens and his fiancé Darold Slack, you can read more local same-sex romance stories here collected by Basic Rights Oregon.

BRO's "Cards from the Heart" campaign wants same-sex couples to share their stories in advance of Feb. 14 in an effort to raise awareness about same-sex marriage in Oregon, probably in anticipation of a 2012 ballot measure aiming to reverse Measure 36, the voter-approved 2004 ban on same-sex marriage.

"This Valentine's Day we're highlighting the love and commitment shared by all couples, gay or straight," said Jeana Frazzini, executive director of BRO. "Cards from the Heart lifts up and celebrates the reason we all want to get married: we publicly affirm the commitment we've made to the person we love."

As of 2007, gay couples in Oregon can receive a domestic partnership, a status that offers them the same state rights as other married couples- like buying joint health insurance or being buried in the same cemetery plot- but leaves them out of the loop on several federal privileges-like annulling estate taxes after a partner dies or naturalizing a spouse from another country.

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