Oregon Ballot Measure 9 was a 1992 ballot initiative concerning LGBTQ rights in the state of Oregon.
Sponsored by the Christian conservative group Oregon Citizens Alliance (OCA), the measure sought to amend the Oregon Constitution to prohibit anti-discrimination laws regarding sexual orientation and to declare homosexuality to be "abnormal, wrong, unnatural, and perverse".
Listing homosexuality alongside pedophilia and sadism and masochism, it has been described as one of the harshest anti-gay measures presented to voters in American history.
The initiative was defeated by 56 percent to 44 percent in the 1992 general election.
The OCA went on to successfully sponsor similar anti-LGBTQ initiatives in municipalities across Oregon.
These local measures were later overruled by the state legislature.
Opposition to Measure 9 was an early victory for the LGBTQ movement in the United States.
Campaign
Measure 9 was an effort of the Oregon Citizens Alliance (OCA), a conservative group affiliated with the Christian Coalition that was active in Oregon politics in the 1990s.
The initiative sought to amend the Oregon Constitution to prohibit anti-discrimination laws regarding sexual orientation and to declare homosexuality to be "abnormal, wrong, unnatural, and perverse".
William Schultz, writing in Oregon Historical Quarterly, describes it as one of the most comprehensive and harshest anti-gay measures put to voters in American history.
Taking advantage of public hostility toward affirmative action, campaigners invoked the idea of "special rights" to imply that LGBTQ people wanted social advantages rather than mere equality.
In this and similar campaigns, homosexuality was portrayed as a choice at odds with societal norms rather than an innate characteristic deserving of protection.
The campaign made extensive use of a video titled The Gay Agenda produced by a California evangelical group, which featured scenes from gay pride parades chosen to portray gay men as hypermasculine and threatening.
Another film titled Gay RightsSpecial Rights: Inside the Homosexual Agenda (1993), produced by the Southern Baptist Convention, also circulated in the state.
Opponents outspent the OCA six to one.
The measure was ultimately defeated, with 56 percent of voters voting against
and 44 percent in support of the measure.
Background
In 1991, OCA Chairman Lon Mabon announced an "Abnormal Behaviors Initiative" that would seek to prevent state and local governments from "condoning or promoting" homosexuality along with necrophilia, bestiality, or pedophilia.
Mabon and the OCA sponsored initiatives restricting LGBTQ rights in the cities of Corvallis and Springfield in early 1992.
Supporters of Measure 9 felt that their traditional values were under siege in the face of growing acceptance of homosexuality by society.
Also in 1992, voters in Colorado passed Amendment 2, a similar anti–LGBTQ rights measure.
Christian Coalition director Ralph Reed believed these efforts could successfully counter the LGBTQ rights movement in the United States; he stated that, if successful, Measure 9 and Amendment 2 could "roll back and snuff out the homosexual rights movement".
The campaign for Measure 9 occurred in the midst of national discourse around "family values" and an economic downturn in which incumbent president George H. W. Bush sought to appeal to socially conservative voters. At the 1992 Republican National Convention, conservative commentator Pat Buchanan gave a speech saying, "There is a religious war going on in this country. It is a cultural war [...] this is a war for the soul of America".
Bush stated his opposition to anti-discrimination laws protecting sexual orientation, while his opponent Bill Clinton expressed support for LGBTQ rights. In response to a question at a campaign event in Portland, Oregon, Clinton defended homosexuals' right to "live their lives and make a contribution to the rest of us".
Meanwhile, there was an increase in anti-LGBTQ hate crimes, threats, and harassment in Oregon, with targets including the Campaign for a Hate Free Oregon, the Cascade AIDS Project, Just Out, the Lesbian Community Project, the Portland chapter of the National Organization for Women, and the Portland Pride Parade. Karen Famous of the Oregon Education Association; and Deborah Jacobs of the Oregon Library Association.
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