Gay Marriage Backers Challenge Amendments
By DAVID CRARY
AP National Writer


PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Camille Reyes used to be apolitical and irked by almost anyone ringing her doorbell to make a pitch. But these days, she's knocking on strangers' doors with missionary zeal to talk about one of the touchiest topics on the election agenda.

One of hundreds of volunteers canvassing house-to-house across Oregon, she is trying to persuade voters to defeat Measure 36, a proposed state constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage.

Eleven states have such amendments on their Nov. 2 ballots, but only in Oregon and Michigan do gay-rights groups and their allies feel they have any realistic chance of defeating them. Were all 11 amendments to pass - a plausible outcome - it would be a sobering setback for activists nationwide who a year ago were celebrating a court order legalizing same-sex marriage in Massachusetts.

``So many hopes are pinned on Oregon,'' said Roey Thorpe, executive dir