And just like that – it’s over. For now.

In a stunning turn of events, David Crowe’s Concerned Oregonians group has admitted defeat and abandoned their efforts in collecting signatures for three initiative petitions designed to repeal Oregon’s two landmark civil rights laws from 2007, the Oregon Family Fairness Act and the Oregon Equality Act, according to e-mail communications from Crowe and his supporters.

In a June 10 e-mail directive to supporters of the initiatives, Crowe writes that “too little time remains to collect the required signatures” for the petitions – IP 144, IP 145 and IP 146 - and that the sole remaining hope for placing a repeal vote for the Oregon Family Fairness Act, the state’s same-sex domestic partnerships law, on the November 2008 ballot is not with their initiatives, but in the resurrected Lemons vs. Bradbury “case of the disenfranchised voters,” which is scheduled for a July 8 hearing in Portland.

Concerned Oregonians’ failure to even reach the petition signature collection phase of their anti-equality campaign is due to several factors, as those of you who have been following the “Repeal Watch” with Just Out are likely aware: sloppy ballot initiative authorship by the chief petitioners, an underpowered and underfunded Concerned Oregonians organization, and the efforts of Basic Rights Oregon and American Civil Liberties Union in commenting on and appealing each initiative at every step of their development along the State’s appeals process.

UPDATED, 4:15 pm, June 11:
BRO’s Jeana Frazzini released a written statement on the BRO blog in response to this news:

It is not surprising that these anti-equality groups have again failed to meet even the minimum requirements for public support for their efforts. The truth is that Oregonians believe that loving, committed couples should have the legal recognition they need to take care of one another. Oregonians believe discrimination is wrong.

Today’s news comes just in time for Portland’s Pride weekend - and we all deserve a celebration! We are proud of all of our efforts to overwhelm their message of divisiveness and bigotry with our message of compassion and justice.

We also recognize that our opponents will continue their efforts to undermine the basic rights of Oregonians and they have one path to the November ballot remaining. Next month, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in Lemons v. Bradbury, the case that delayed our domestic partnership law last winter. Basic Rights Oregon’s attorney and we will continue to do everything in our power to keep discrimination off the November ballot in Oregon.

Oregon’s domestic partnership and anti-discrimination laws are the result of years of hard work by fair-minded Oregonians, from volunteers, elected officials, the business community and faith leaders across the state. We are grateful for the ongoing support of the LGBT community and our allies as we seek to end discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in Oregon.

Read David Crowe’s letter to Concerned Oregonians supporters after the jump…

Update: The Road Ahead for Concerned Oregonians
 
The Battle for Marriage, Morality, and the Family
 
June 10, 2008
 
Whether the Oregon Supreme Court takes action or not this Wednesday on the Attorney General’s certified ballot title for Initiative Petition 145, too little time remains to collect the required signatures. The battle for God ordained marriage, morality, and the family, however, will continue in Oregon. 
 
It has become apparent that our hope of using the online petitions exclusively, as a last resort however, has potentially serious legal ramifications and is no longer an option. The only remaining possibility for the November 2008 ballot is a positive outcome from the Ninth Circuit on HB 2007.  That hearing is scheduled for July 8th in Portland.

There is no doubt that if the Oregon Supreme Court had acted ‘expeditiously’ as the law directs, Concerned Oregonians would have gathered well over 100,000 signatures by the July 3rd deadline, and Oregonians would have been given the opportunity to VOTE on at least one of the two most culturally devastating bills in Oregon history. 

What Concerned Oregonians have achieved in one year

*Made hundreds of thousands of Oregonians aware of what the 2007 Oregon Legislature and the Governor of Oregon did to unravel the will of the people after the people spoke clearly and overwhelmingly in 2004 by Amending the Constitution to state that “marriage was between a man and a woman only”
*Obtained 63,000 signatures on each of two petitions in 90 days
*Confronted the Secretary of State, and State and County Elections Officials for unlawfully invalidating a sufficient number of valid signatures to prevent Oregonians from VOTING on HB 2007 (so called domestic partnerships)
*Obtained the services of the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) to defend the voting rights of all Oregonians (ADF presents their argument for certifying HB 2007 for the November ballot before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on July 8th in Portland)
*Mobilized and organized over 700 volunteers to circulate Initiative petitions to give Oregonians the right to VOTE on the two bills the legislature, State, and a Federal Judge did not want Oregonians to VOTE on
*Developed a mailing list of over 60,000 Oregonians for future efforts to defend traditional marriage, morality, and family against the social engineers in State and County civil government 
*Set an operational structure in place around the State of Oregon to impact the November Elections and confront all Legislative and Judicial attempts to redefine marriage, morality and the family in Oregon

This was accomplished with under $50,000, no paid staff, a bevy of volunteer leaders, and you who stepped forward to honor what God instituted and to protect those institutions for the benefit of all Oregonians. 

Looking Forward
 
Organizational and volunteer recruitment efforts continue, as new pastor and denominational relationships and networks are developed around growing concern for the threat to marriage, family and our moral base.
 
We anticipate going forward:
*A shift in the political center of gravity resulting from the influence of our expanding organization, networks, and present and future efforts
*The possible repeal of HB 2007 (domestic partnerships) if it is approved for the 2008 ballot by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
*Urging voters to remove state legislators who voted for both bills
*A successful future petition drive to place SB 2 on the November 2010 ballot, and HB 2007 as well, if the Ninth Circuit fails to act on behalf of the plaintiffs  
*Restoring respect for the rule of law and the will of the people

Thank you for your faithful stand with us over these past months. We pray you will remain with us in our efforts over the coming months.

With Gratitude,
 
David Crowe and the CO Leadership Team