Ore. Gay Marriage Supporters to Collect Signatures

Organizers of the effort to make same-sex marriage legal in Oregon say they will start collecting petition signatures Friday.

Volunteers in more than a dozen Oregon cities are expected to pick up petitions and ask registered voters for their signatures. It will take 116,000 valid signatures for the initiative to make the November 2014 ballot.

In 2004, voters by a margin of 57 percent to 43 percent voted to amend the Oregon constitution to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman.

Since then, same-sex marriage has become legal in neighboring California and Washington. Organizers hope that's a sign that Oregonians are ready to reverse the ban.