LGBTQ news and entertainment
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry addresses employees at the U.S. Embassy in London, to announce that the U.S. Department of State would immediately start granting visas to same-sex couples just as it does for opposite-sex couples, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Defense of Marriage Act.
(source)
From the American Foundation for Equal Rights:
It’s been a busy week, with marriages suddenly recognized in some unexpected states. But it’s unclear how long those victories will last. Meanwhile, state officials in other states are refusing to defend marriage bans. And as always, we have more favorable polling numbers.
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| Graphic via Memeographs |
Can you imagine fighting in court just for the right to be laid to rest next to the love of your life?
From Think Progress, read “Ohio Plans Unspeakably Cruel Appeal Of Dying Man’s Last Wish”
This week’s headlines:
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| New Mexico Attorney General Gary King |
New Mexico Attorney General Gary King yesterday told the state Supreme Court that he will not defend the state against a lawsuit calling for the legalization of same-sex marriage saying the current prohibition on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.
In written arguments filed with the court, King said the justices should invalidate the state’s ban on gay marriage if they agree to resolve the issue in a lawsuit filed by two Santa Fe men who were denied a marriage license.
King, a Democrat who plans to run for governor next year against Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, said New Mexico law effectively doesn’t allow gay marriages although there’s no statutory provision that specifically prohibits, or authorizes, gay couples to be married. “New Mexico’s guarantee of equal protection to its citizens demands that same-sex couples be permitted to enjoy the benefits of marriage in the same way and to the same extent as other New Mexico citizens,” King said in the filing.
The state Supreme Court had asked King to respond to the lawsuit, but in yesterday’s response, King also said the couple’s case should be rejected because it had improperly bypassed lower courts and would set a precedent for direct actions to the high court.
Earlier this month the ACLU and the National Center for Lesbian Rights also filed a lawsuit on behalf of six gay couples asking the state Supreme Court to clarify whether same-sex couples can marry in New Mexico.
Two men who traveled from Cincinnati to Maryland last week to marry, John Arthur and Jim Obergefell, are now asking Ohio to recognize their marriage based on equal protection:
The suit, filed by the couple, states the way the law treats marriages between opposite-sex couples is unfairly different from the way it treats marriages between same-sex couples.
“It’s blatant discrimination,” said the couple’s attorney Al Gerhardstein. “It’s a denial of equal protection.”
The suit points to an example of a marriage between first cousins. In Ohio, it is illegal. But if first cousins go to another state and marry where it is legal, Ohio will recognize their out of state marriage as valid.
“Equal protection demands that opposite-sex couples and same-sex couples should be treated the same,” Gerhardstein said in a release. “John and James were validly married in Maryland. If they were an opposite sex couple, Ohio would recognize their marriage. Being a same-sex couple is no longer a good enough reason to deny them equal rights.”
Gerhardstein says the suit filed Friday has importance beyond the law. The couple is running out of time.
Two years ago, Arthur was diagnosed with ALS, also referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. There is no known cure or treatment today that halts or reverses ALS.
The haters at Protect Marriage have filed a petition to continue enforcement of Prop 8 in California:
Moments ago, we filed a new petition in the California Supreme Court against all of California’s 58 county clerks, and state officials, seeking to restore the enforcement of Proposition 8, the state’s constitutional amendment limiting marriage to a man and a woman. The undeniable fact is, the man-woman definition of marriage, as passed by a majority the voters, is still a valid part of our state constitution.
Yet county clerks statewide are lawlessly defying that law by issuing gender-neutral marriage licenses. We are asking California’s Supreme Court to restore the rule of law and the public’s confidence in the integrity of the initiative process.
The action we filed today contends that at least 56 of the 58 county clerks must continue to follow Proposition 8 because they were not parties to the recent federal lawsuit against Prop 8, and that the state’s governor and attorney general have no legal authority to order local county clerks to disregard the state constitution.
Our petition also reminds the justices that our opponents, the attorneys for the plaintiffs who challenged Prop 8, have repeatedly admitted that the 56 county clerks not involved in their case “are not directly bound by the injunction” issued by a single San Francisco judge against Prop 8. In fact, “super-lawyer” David Boies told the courts that “the scope of the injunction is quite limited”, and at least the 56 county clerks would remain free to “refuse a marriage license to a same-sex couple…without violating the injunction.”
This will result in nothing. The kids at Protect Marriage are just out to cause further misery at this point.
You can read the whole petition from Protect Marriage by clicking here.
Just seven years after Virginia passed a constitutional amendment prohibiting same sex marriage in the state, polls show public opinion on the issue following national trends:
A new poll released by the Human Rights Campaign, a leading LGBT advocacy group, found 55 percent of Virginians polled supported same sex marriage. Researchers also found 71 percent of respondents under the age of 30 support gay marriage.
The bipartisan poll was done by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research and Target Point Consulting from June 26-30, 2013.
Support for same-sex marriage varied in different parts of Virginia, the poll found.
68 percent in Northern Virginia support same-sex marriage
53 percent in Central Virginia support same-sex marriage
51 percent in Eastern Virginia support same-sex marriage“There is no question we’re making movement when it comes to fairness and equality across the country,” Human Rights Campaign president Chad Griffin said.
(via WTVR)
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| Via Memeographs |
Philly.com is reporting that Attorney General Kathleen Kane is expected to announce Thursday that her office won’t defend the state in a federal lawsuit that challenges Pennsylvania’s ban on gay marriage.
Read the more here.
UPDATE: Kathleen Kane released her official statement today –
“I cannot ethically defend the constitutionality of Pennsylvania’s (law banning same-sex marriage), where I believe it to be wholly unconstitutional.” – Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane
To which openly gay (and handsome) PA Rep. Brian Sims tweeted this:
