Tag: marriage equality

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Ninth Circuit panel selected for marriage equality cases in Hawaii, Nevada and Idaho

According to Equality Case Files, the three-judge panel selected for next week’s 9th Circuit Court of Appeals hearings on marriage equality bode well for the good guys.

The Nevada, Idaho and Hawaii cases will be heard consecutively next Monday, September 8th beginning at 4pm in San Francisco.

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Marriage equality comes to Mexican state of Cahuila

By a vote of 19-1, the state legislature of Mexico’s 15th most populous state – Coahuila, Mexico – has legalized same-sex marriage. The new law goes into effect in one week.

According to reports, the law says, “Marriage is the free union with full consent of two people, which has as its objective to realize community life where both [people] seek respect, equality and mutual aid, and make in a free, responsible, voluntary and informed way reproductive decisions that fit their life project, including the possibility of procreation or adoption.”

Of the 31 Mexican states, marriage equality is also celebrated in the state of Quintana Roo and the Federal District (Mexico City).

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Marriage News Watch – September 1, 2014

From the American Foundation for Equal Rights:

Anti-gay attorneys took a beating before the Seventh Circuit last week, trying and failing to defend marriage bans before a panel of hostile judges. Now all eyes are on the Supreme Court to see which cases they’ll take up in their fall session.

There’s another major marriage argument coming up in a few days.

And the National Organization for Marriage still isn’t giving up in Oregon, despite having lost months ago.

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Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie blames marriage equality support for primary loss

Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie is pointing to his support of marriage equality for his lop-sided loss in the recent Democratic primary for reelection.

The winner, state Sen. David Ige, also supports marriage equality and voted for it during the special session called by Abercrombie last year to pass the new law. But Abercrombie told reporters, according to the Associated Press and Honolulu Star-Advertiser, that his theory is “Republicans crossed over en masse” to vote in the Democratic primary as revenge for legalizing same-sex marriage.

As a result, Abercrombie says the loss was worth it. “There’s no way I could live with myself if I thought I was diminishing another human being’s ability to reach their full capacity,” said Abercrombie, according the AP.

Abercrombie was handily defeated, earning only 31 percent of the vote compared to Ige taking 67 percent.

Abercrombie is the first sitting Democratic governor in Hawaii to lose in a primary.

Sen. Ige is heavily favored to win the general election due to the political makeup of Hawaii.

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Florida: Charlie Crist asks Gov. Rick Scott to drop appeals against same-sex marriage

Democratic candidate for governor Charlie Crist wrote an open op-ed letter to GOP Gov. Rick Scott on Friday asking him to drop any appeals to the recent court rulings that found Florida’s same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional.

Via the Miami Herald:

“Dear Governor Scott: Four years ago, a district court of appeals ruled Florida’s ban on gay and lesbian adoption unconstitutional. When the ruling came down, I believed it was my job as Governor to exercise the authority vested in me by the people and our Constitution. The day the judge ruled, I declared Florida’s adoption ban over. Gay and lesbian parents began adopting the children they loved immediately. It is one of my proudest moments as an elected official.

“Last Thursday Federal District Judge Robert Hinkle gave you the same chance to speak out for what is right when, in a ruling that would apply statewide, he struck down Florida’s ban on same sex marriage. By declaring the marriage ban finished you could discourage any future appeals and end the nightmare that loving same sex couples all across our state endure every single day, ending court battles that could drag on for months or years.

[snip]

“You have the power to end the suffering of people like Arlene Goldberg. Last March, Arlene lost her wife and partner of 47 years, Carol Goldwasser. At a moment of enormous and understandable grief, Arlene had to suffer the humiliation of not being listed as Carol’s wife on the death certificate. Even worse, she lost her home because she was denied the social security benefits they had earned.

“When faced with a very similar decision four years ago I did what I believed was best for Florida and best for the thousands of children waiting to be adopted by loving parents. Today, I urge you to do what’s best for Floridians and declare the state will not be challenging Judge Hinkle’s Order or any other orders supporting the rights of all Floridians to marry.” – Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who supported his state’s ban on same-sex marriage while in office.”

It should be noted that when Crist previously served as the governor of Florida (as a Republican), he supported the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

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SCOTUS sees more requests for same-sex marriage appeals from Oklahoma and Virginia

Plenty of requests for the US Supreme Court regarding marriage equality today.

Lawyers for Oklahoma couple Mary Bishop and Sharon Baldwin have filed a request for SCOUTS to take up their case. The couple successfully sued Tulsa County Clerk Sally Howe Smith for refusing to issue a marriage license due to a state ban on same-sex marriage.

Last month the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal judges ruling that Oklahoma’s ban on marriage equality is unconstitutional.

Smith’s lawyers have already filed a similar appeal to SCOTUS earlier this month.

Over in Virginia, the American Foundation for Equal Rights have filed what is now the third request to SCOTUS regarding that state’s same-sex marriage ban.

“Forty-seven years ago, Mildred and Richard Loving passionately argued that the Supreme Court must end the unjust laws that dare to tell us who we can and cannot love,” said Plaintiffs’ lead co-counsel Ted Olson.

“Today, almost half a century later, it is time thousands of gay and lesbian couples across America are extended that same promise of equality and freedom that the Supreme Court granted to the Lovings. Our plaintiffs have already fought for, in two separate courts, a constitutional promise they have been denied. Now, the Supreme Court must take up the Bostic case, answer once and for all the surpassingly important constitutional question of marriage equality, and rule decisively in favor of the fundamental right to marry for every same-sex couple.”

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring and the Alliance Defending Freedom (acting for the Norfolk County Clerk) had both recently filed similar requests for review.

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Florida District Court of Appeal asks state Supreme Court to take up same-sex marriage issue

Ignoring the request of Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to hold on all things “same-sex marriage” until SCOTUS has it’s eventual say, the state’s 2nd District Court of Appeal has asked the state Supreme Court to rule on a Hillsborough County divorce case involving a same-sex couple seeking a divorce.

From Equality Florida:

“Today, the 2nd District Court of Appeal (DCA) in Tampa, Florida has requested that the Florida Supreme Court take up the issue of marriage equality right away,” said Stratton Pollitzer, Deputy Director of Equality Florida.

“This is what we’ve been asking for all along. We’re thrilled that the 2nd DCA agrees that marriage equality is an issue of such urgency and importance that it should be elevated directly to the Florida Supreme Court. We hope that the 3rd DCA in Miami will follow suit and request that the marriage cases pending before them also be moved directly to the Florida Supreme Court. We need a final resolution, not another appeal, because every day this discriminatory ban remains in place causes significant and irreparable harm to our families.”

After four rulings in favor of marriage equality in Florida, AG Bondi stated that she prefers to “hold” on any appeals in those cases until the US Supreme Court addresses the issue… someday.

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Wisconsin & Indiana in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals today on same-sex marriage bans

Oral arguments are under way in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals with Indiana and Wisconsin attempting to defend their respective state’s same-sex marriage bans.

According to Chris Johnson of the Washington Blade, the good guys catch what might be a good break from the get-go as the legal journalist feels the judges assigned the case are possible good fit for marriage equality.

UPDATE – Chris Johnson just tweeted this after the close of oral arguments:

LGBT legal journalist Chris Geidner of Buzzfeed posted this “first take”:

And The Bilerico Project had this to say:

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Marriage News Watch – August 25, 2014

From the American Foundation for Equal Rights:

• The anti-gay Governor of Indiana just got caught making some wild claims in court, and now a judge has called him out in a sternly-worded ruling

• Marriage equality has picked up another victory, with the first federal judge to rule in Florida

• There’s a new case in Arizona, with an elderly couple about to lose their home

• Couples are fighting back against stalling tactics in Arkansas

• Plus, two major oral arguments are coming up in the next few days

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Federal judge rules Florida's same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional

Although four state judges had previously ruled in the same fashion, today a federal judge struck down Florida’s same-sex marriage ban.

From the Florida ACLU:

In his decision, U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle held that by denying the plaintiffs fundamental right to marry, Florida’s marriage ban violated the due process and equal protection clauses of the U.S. Constitution.

He also held that the state’s rationale for denying recognition of the marriages not only had no rational basis, but would fail even a higher level of scrutiny, stating that “[t]he undeniable truth is that the Florida ban on same-sex marriage stems entirely, or almost entirely, from moral disapproval of the practice,” and that “moral disapproval alone cannot sustain” a ban restricting marriage to opposite-sex couples.

Hinkle’s decision is stayed pending Supreme Court action.