Ellen Rosenblum

The office of Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum issued a certified ballot title for an initiative that would allow businesses to opt out of serving gay weddings if it violated their religious beliefs.

(Benjamin Brink/The Oregonian)

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, ruling in a ballot title fight, sided with opponents of a ballot measure

to gay weddings if they have religious objections.

The attorney general issued a ballot title for the initiative that

. Friends of Religious Freedom, the group sponsoring the proposed ballot measure, complained that the attorney general adopted unfair wording that stigmatized the measure.

"It's very likely" that the group will appeal the ballot title to the Oregon Supreme Court, said Shawn Lindsay, legal counsel for Friends of Religious Freedom.

Peter Zuckerman, a spokesman for Oregon United for Marriage, which opposes the initiative, said his group was pleased the language "makes clear this measure creates exemptions to non-discrimination laws. No one should be treated different because of who they are."

The certified ballot title

contains this wording:

Ballot titles are regarded as one of the most important parts of an initiative campaign because they appear on the ballot right above where voters indicated their preference.

Friends of Religious Freedom argued that there should not be any reference to discrimination in the ballot title, which it called a "politically charged" word that biased voters against the measure.

Although the ballot title is

, it wouldn't be surprising if they also appeal to the Supreme Court. An appeal would delay proponents from the start of canvassing to obtain the 87,213 signatures needed to qualify for the ballot.

-- Jeff Mapes