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Jack Louman, the executive director of Oregon Family Council and Teresa Harke, the group's executive director, stand in front of boxes of voter guides produced by the council during election years.

(Jeff Mapes/The Oregonian)

Ten years ago, the Oregon Family Council was a whirlwind of activity as the group spearheaded the campaign to qualify an initiative banning same-sex marriage.

Volunteers and council officials circulated petitions to scores of churches around the state as pastors spoke of the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman. Sponsors collected 240,000 signatures in five weeks – a feat never equaled in Oregon – and won a 13-point victory at the polls.

Flash forward to 2014 and the council's office in an industrial park near the Portland Airport feels as quiet as a Christian Science reading room.

The group is no longer gearing up a campaign against a gay marriage ballot measure because a federal judge settled the issue in Oregon by striking down the 2004 ban.

The group's two leaders – executive director Jack Louman and communications director Teresa Harke – acknowledge that it's a difficult time for them on the issue of gay marriage.

"We're not changing on the issue, but I think fewer people are willing to stick their neck out on it because they don't feel it's safe to do so," said Harke.

"You get attacked for voicing an opinion that is very valid historically and culturally," added Louman.

Among opponents of gay marriage in Oregon – a state that has one of the lowest church attendance rates in the country – it's common to hear a sense of resignation about the issue.

"I think there's kind of a mood of quiet disappointment among those who believe in traditional marriage," said John Fortmeyer, publisher of Christian News Northwest.

He said most people he talked with were unhappy that the voters' will was undone by a single judge – and that it was a one-sided case because Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum declined to defend the 2004 law.

But Fortmeyer said the broader cultural changes have also made many conservative Christians think twice about speaking out on the issue.

"There's a big variance now about how productive it is to focus heavily on traditional social issues," he said. "Ten years ago within the Christian community, there was more of an argument that the social issues deserved engaging our efforts to preserve them."

Fortmeyer and others say many pastors want to shy away from debates about homosexuality that can hurt their public image.

"From their pulpit, they're clear about how they feel about marriage," said Tim Nashif, a founder of the Oregon Family Council who helped lead the 2004 initiative campaign. But in public, he added, "they talk about it more carefully. ... They don't want to lose their ability to reach out to people."

Todd Cooper of the Oregon Catholic Conference, which was outspoken in its criticism of McShane's decision, said church leaders are now focused on explaining to their flock "about what the true nature of marriage is about."

But Cooper acknowledged it's a "tricky line" to express love and support for gay people and welcome them into the church while defending marriage as between one man and one woman.

"It's been a difficult thing to present to the public at large and even to some of our people," he said.

In some ways, religious opponents of gay marriage say, the political debate in Oregon has shifted to the issue of what they describe as religious freedom.

"The question is whether there will be mutual respect," said Georgene Rice, a talk show host on religious radio in Portland and the chief spokeswoman for the 2004 ballot measure.

She asked whether supporters of traditional marriage will be able to live their faith, not only through their words but through their deeds.

That issue was at the heart of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision Monday in a case involving the owners of a chain of craft stores, Hobby Lobby, who said it violated their religious beliefs to provide the broad contraceptive coverage required under the new federal health care law.

In Oregon, the debate has been symbolized by the well-publicized case of the Gresham bakery owners, Aaron and Melissa Klein, who refused to bake a cake for the wedding of a lesbian couple because they said it violated their religious beliefs.

The family council drafted an initiative allowing individuals and businesses to opt out of providing goods and services for same-sex weddings or commitment ceremonies. The measure got hung up in court in a fight over the ballot title, and the council dropped the initiative. Now the group's legal counsel, former state Rep. Shawn Lindsay, is working on a lawsuit arguing that Oregon's law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation should accommodate businesses with religious objections to gay marriage.

"For most people of faith, if my faith tells me this is wrong, I can't in good conscience do this," Harke said. "As a country, we've understood this for a long time, such as [allowing] conscientious objectors to war. ... But I think it's become more polarized lately."

Critics of the family council's position argue that the group is simply defending discrimination.

David Fidanque, executive director of the Oregon chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said state law allows churches and nonprofit groups to claim religious exemptions. A minister is free, for example, to refuse to perform someone's marriage.

But businesses, Fidanque said, shouldn't be allowed to refuse to serve people based on such things as race, gender, religion and sexual orientation.

It's no different, he said, "from what people in Alabama had to go through in 1965 after the Civil Rights Act was passed."

Harke rejected the comparison, saying that there was no valid religious argument for refusing to serve people in a restaurant because of their race.

Louman and Harke said they see more issues like the Gresham bakery case being the focus of public debate as society adjusts to the reality of same-sex marriage.

"You don't leave your faith at the door when you walk out of your house," said Louman. "Your faith is intrinsic to everything you do."

-- Jeff Mapes