Ellen Rosenblum

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum on Tuesday said the state is ready to allow same-sex couples to get married if a federal judge strikes down the state's constitutional ban on gay marriages.

(Benjamin Brink/The Oregonian)

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said in a federal court filing Tuesday that the state is "prepared to implement" marriages for gay and lesbian couples if U.S. District Judge Michael McShane strikes down the Oregon constitutional prohibition against same-sex marriages.

Rosenblum, who

the state's same-sex marriage ban,

for why the state ban violates the federal constitutional rights of gay and lesbian couples.

Rosenblum's brief concludes:

McShane has scheduled April 23 oral arguments in the case.

If he joins other federal judges in several other states who have struck down state bans, same-sex marriages could begin soon after the state, said David Fidanque, executive director of the Oregon branch of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Fidanque noted that since Rosenblum's decision, there would be no one with the legal standing to appeal a decision allowing same-sex marriage in the state.

Rosenblum represents the defendants in two lawsuits filed by four same-sex couples seeking to marry.

"There's a lot of discretion on the part of the judge as to what happens," said Fidanque, "not only on the merits of the case but on what happens next.

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The ACLU represents two of the couples who filed suit as well as the Basic Rights Education Fund.

Rosenblum's brief argues that there is "no rational justification for maintaining the ban" and that the federal constitutional protections for same-sex couples have become clear since Oregon voters approved the prohibition on gay marriages in 2004.

The attorney general said that allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry is not a redefinition of marriage.

Instead, she said, the plaintiffs in this case "seek the same right to marry that the state offers opposite-sex couples and not a right to any newly invented form of marriage.

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Rosenblum's brief leans heavily on last year's Supreme Court decision striking key provisions of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which forbade federal recognition of same-sex marriages.

The brief cites a Ninth Circuit opinion stating that "Windsor requires that when state action discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation, we must examine its actual purposes and carefully consider the resulting inequality to ensure that our most fundamental institutions neither send nor reinforce messages of stigma or second-class status.

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Adds Rosenblum's brief:

Mike Marshall, the campaign manager for Oregon United for Marriage, added:

"We are literally counting down the days until all loving and committed couples in Oregon have the freedom to marry, and we are thrilled that the attorney general is on the right side of history.

"

That group is leading an initiative campaign that would overturn Oregon's ban on same-sex marriage.

Marshall has previously said the group

if they receive a favorable ruling from McShane.

Officials of Oregon Family Council, which has supported the prohibition on same-sex marriage, could not be immediately reached for comment.

-- Jeff Mapes