1. Same Sex Marriages – Demographic Analysis Karen Hampton, Registration Unit Oregon Center for Health Statistics

2. Vital Records time line March 2004 Multnomah County commissioners held press conference and began issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples.

3. Vital Records time line April 2004 Judge Bearden ordered the county to stop issuing licenses and the state to honor those that had been issued. Records were stored, but not registered.

4. Vital Records Update July 9, 2004 CHS was ordered to register the records as a ‘ministerial act’. July 16, 2004 All completed records were registered (2,958 of the final 2,976 received).

5. Vital Records Update April 14, 2005 Oregon Supreme Court declared same sex marriages void. CHS stopped issuing certified copies of same sex marriage records.

6. Oregon Supreme Court decision in Li vs. State of Oregon “ …[T]he county erroneously transmogrified a governmental official's ongoing obligation to support the constitution into an implied grant of authority,…, to prescribe remedies for any perceived constitutional shortcomings in such laws …

7. Transmogrified? trans·mog·ri·fy To change into a different shape or form, especially one that is fantastic or bizarre.

8. Opportunities created Learned how quickly 3,000 records can be reviewed, numbered and entered. Mainframe system surprisingly endured the addition of a new field for sex. Jennifer Woodward was on a first name basis with more DOJ staff. Analyzed the demographic profile of same sex couples who chose to marry.

9. How do we know sex of spouses?

10. Limitations of data Marriage licenses were available to same sex couples only in Multnomah County, not statewide as to opposite sex couples. Licenses were available only between March 3 and April 20, 2004. And many more.

11. Residency Same sex couples were more likely to be non-residents than opposite sex couples.

12. Gender More than twice as many females married as males.

13. Age of Spouses The mean age of same sex couples was older than that of opposite sex couples.

14. Educational Attainment Education levels completed were higher for same-sex couples.

15. Previous Marriages Male/Male marriages were most likely to be the first marriage for both spouses.

16. Type of Ceremony Same sex couples were more likely to have religious officiants.

17. Ripples Measure 36 passed – constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman. Higher profile legislative debate on civil unions, reciprocal beneficiary agreements, and covenant marriages.

18. Additional information available On the CHS web site at http://oregon.gov/http://oregon.gov/ DHS/DHS/ph/chs/order/samesex.shtml On the Department of Justice web site at http://www.doj.state.or.us/samesex.htm http://www.doj.state.or.us/samesex.htm

19. Thank you for your time Karen Hampton Registration Unit Manager Oregon Center for Health Statistics Karen.R.Hampton@state.or.us (503) 731-4412