SEASIDE-Republicans attending the annual Dorchester Conference endorsed the gay marriage ballot measure Saturday as supporters warned that the GOP needed to move to acceptance of same-sex marriages to avoid driving young voters away.

"I believe this is a wedge issue that forces young people into the Democratic Party's hands," said Jacob Vandever, a Republican legislative candidate from Corvallis who urged delegates to

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Attendees to the annual conference endorsed the measure on a 233-162 vote as they delivered what amounted to a rebuke directed toward a group of social conservatives who skipped Dorchester this year to

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Rolf Glerum, a longtime Republican activist from Portland who has long warred with social conservatives, said he was happy to see the social conservatives split off.

"Holding this Dorchester without these malcontents is like going deer hunting without an accordion," he said. "In other words, who cares."

Dorchester, which was founded 50 years ago by former Sen. Bob Packwood, has often taken a more liberal tack on social issues. It made headlines in its earlier year when it backed abortion rights and in 1992 when it opposed an

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There were a number of Republicans -- most of them older -- who spoke out against the measure. One pastor read a Biblical injunction against homosexuality while former state Sen. Charles Starr of Hillsboro said society should not "shake your fist in the face of the living God."

Ginny Brewster, a stockbroker from Clackamas, said it simply wasn't smart for Republicans to wade into an issue in which they are so divided and Democrats are so unified.

"We should not fall into this trap," she said, explaining that it keeps Republicans from focusing on the "real issues," such as government finances.

But others said it was time that Dorchester took up this issue. Portland attorney Jerry Keene, who publicly came out as gay 21 years ago during the Dorchester debate on the anti-gay measure, said that he and his partner just celebrated their 25 anniversary of "not being gay married."

"We're not threat to the institution [of marriage], believe me," said Keene. "If we're allowed access to the institution, we'll take care of it."

-- Jeff Mapes