Tag: marriage equality

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Colorado: Service members speak out in support of marriage equality

In its ongoing work to demonstrate that the broad majority of Coloradans support the freedom to marry, Why Marriage Matters Colorado, a coalition of state and national organizations, released a 30-second television spot featuring a group of local veterans standing up for their gay comrade in arms.

The ad, airing statewide, features three military veterans who, together with their friend, U.S. Air Force Master Sergeant T. Ashley Metcalf – who is still actively serving his country – represent 45 years of military service. Sgt. Metcalf is gay, and his band of brothers – former Army Staff Sgt. Izzy Abbass, retired U.S. Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Dennis Mont’Ros, and former Marine Sgt. Will Glenn – talk about the importance of the freedom to marry for everyone.

(Via Why Marriage Matters Colorado)

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Challenge to Oregon’s gay marriage ban in court this week

A federal judge will hear two cases Wednesday that aim to strike down Oregon’s anti-marriage equality law, but no party has stepped in to defend the voter-approved constitutional amendment.

From The Republic:

Oregon’s attorney general, Democrat Ellen Rosenblum, says the state’s ban is legally indefensible. Her office filed a lengthy brief urging judge U.S. District Judge Michael McShane to throw it out. There have been no legal arguments submitted for upholding the ban.

Federal judges in five states have thrown out voter-approved bans on same-sex marriage on constitutional grounds since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a portion of the federal Defense of Marriage Act last year, and many other challenges are pending.

For Oregon’s ban, oral arguments are scheduled for Wednesday at U.S. District Court in Eugene.

“The ban on same-sex marriage serves no rational purpose and harms Oregon citizens,” lawyers for the state wrote. “This case presents that rare case in which there simply is no legal argument to be made in support of a state law.”

The U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause prohibits the government from treating a group of people differently from others unless there’s sufficient justification that furthers a legitimate public interest.

In this case, much of the legal analysis surrounds how high the bar should be for the government to prove it has an interest in treating gays and lesbians differently with respect to marriage.

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Pennsylvania: Marriage equality lawsuit may resolve based only on briefs filed, no trial

Pennsylvania’s marriage equality lawsuit may receive a relatively quick ruling in light of the fact that the state says it will not call any experts nor argue the ban causes harm to the plaintiffs.

From the ACLU website:

A trial became unnecessary after the commonwealth stated that it will not call any experts to counter the plaintiffs’ argument that there is no rational reason why lesbian and gay couples are excluded from marriage, nor does it plan to dispute the specific harms caused to the plaintiffs by the marriage ban. All legal papers in the case will be filed by May 12, meaning a ruling could come at any time after that date.

“We are pleased that this case will be moving forward quickly. Our clients have waited long enough for the state to recognize the love and commitment that these couples have for each other,” said John S. Stapleton, of Hangley Aronchick Segal Pudlin & Schiller.

In addition to the motion for summary judgement (asking a judge to decide the case on the briefs alone rather than wait for a trial), briefs were filed by the plaintiffs with testimony from experts on legal disadvantages same-sex couples face on many legal fronts, as well as economic harms to the state’s economy due to banning marriage equality.

You can read the plaintiff’s motion for here.

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Texas: Marriage equaltiy reaches positive territory in recent poll

According to a survey by Texas Tech, support for marriage equality has crossed into positive territory for the first time.

Mark McKenzie, associate professor of political science at Texas Tech, spoke to Newswise:

“In the past, support for gay marriage in this state was below 40 percent,” he said. “Now, were closely divided on the issue. 48 percent of Texans think gay marriage should be recognized whereas 47 percent are against.

“Democrats and Independents strongly support gay marriage, while Republicans are strongly opposed to it.”

Other results include:

• 56% of Texans believe illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay in the US and apply for citizenship
• 44% of Texans approve of the Tea Party
• 41% label themselves Republican, 17% see themselves as Democrats and 31% say the are Independetns

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Marriage News Watch – April 21, 2014

From the American Foundation for Equal Rights:

• The lawyer who led the defense of Proposition 8 now says his attitudes are evolving as he plans his daughter’s lesbian wedding.
• Michigan officials are trying to invalidate hundreds of couples’ marriage licenses, but now those couples are fighting back.
• A Judge in Ohio has issued one of the most strongly-worded rejections of a marriage ban to date.

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Judge to rule on Arkansas same-sex marriage ban within two weeks

Judge Chris Piazza

After hearing oral arguments on a challenge to Arkansas’ ban on marriage equality yesterday, Circuit Judge Chris Piazza said he would rule within two weeks.

From the Arkansas News Bureau:

Twenty-one same-sex Arkansas couples — and one woman seeking a divorce from a woman she married in New York — allege in a lawsuit that Amendment 83 to the Arkansas Constitution, which was approved by voters in 2004 and defines marriage as between one man and one woman, violates rights guaranteed under both the state and federal constitutions.

The state attorney general’s office maintains that banning same-sex marriage preserves state interests and does not violate any fundamental rights.

Jack Wagoner, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, said during Thursday’s hearing that since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal definition of marriage as between one man and one woman in the U.S. v. Windsor case last year, 18 federal and state court decisions have been issued addressing the issue of equality based on sexual orientation, and all have been decided in favor of equality.

“When the government is in the marriage business, same-sex couples have to be treated the same,” Wagoner said during arguments. “The fact that they’ve been historically discriminated against is less reason to have laws targeting them.”

(via Towleroad)

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Prop 8 defense lawyer “evolves” regarding same-sex marriage

Eventually, when it touches your life, you evolve.

Protect Marriage attorney Charles Cooper, who vigorously argued against the overturn of Proposition 8 before the Supreme Court last year, says his opinion on gay marriage is “evolving” now that his own daughter is planning to marry a woman.

The revelation is an unexpected footnote in the years-long debate over Proposition 8, the California measure struck down by the Supreme Court last year. It is also offers a glimpse, through the eyes of one family, of the country’s rapidly shifting opinions of gay marriage, with most public polls now showing majorities in favour of allowing the unions. Cooper learned that his stepdaughter Ashley was gay as the Proposition 8 case wound its way through appellate court, according to a forthcoming book about the lengthy legal battle.

And with the Supreme Court ruling now behind him, Cooper cast his personal opinion on gay marriage as an evolving process. “My views evolve on issues of this kind the same way as other people’s do, and how I view this down the road may not be the way I view it now, or how I viewed it ten years ago,” Cooper said in journalist Jo Becker’s book “Forcing the Spring: Inside the Fight for Marriage Equality.” Cooper’s words are reminiscent of the language President Barack Obama used throughout his first term to describe his “evolving” views on gay marriage. In 2012, Obama announced publicly that he did, in fact, support the rights of same-sex couples to marry.

Cooper’s daughter will marry in Massachusetts in June. He says, “My daughter Ashley’s path in life has led her to happiness with a lovely young woman named Casey, and our family and Casey’s family are looking forward to celebrating their marriage in just a few weeks.”

HRC president Chad Griffin reacts: “I spent the better part of five years sitting across courtroom aisles from Mr. Cooper, disagreeing with just about every word that came out of his mouth, but I have profound respect for his decision to love and celebrate his daughter and her fiancée because his story reflects the experience of so many of the 90 percent of Americans who personally know someone who is LGBT.”

Proposition 8 plaintiffs Kris Perry and Sandy Stier react: “We were so moved to hear of the Cooper family’s constant love and support of their own daughter, even as the Perry case was in full swing and Mr. Cooper was spending his days planning Prop 8’s defense. Some may find this contrast between public and private jarring, but in our opinion, loving an LGBT child unequivocally is the single most important thing any parent can do. We are overjoyed for Ashley and her fiancée, and we wish them the very best.”

(via JoeMyGod)

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Republican pro-marriage equality super PAC raises $2.75 million

A Republican super PAC aimed at supporting pro-gay marriage GOP candidates raised a strong $2.75 million in the first quarter of 2014.

The three-month haul for American Unity PAC is by far the biggest so far for the super PAC, which was around for the 2012 election but had relatively little funding. The committee raised about the same amount in all of 2012 and pulled in just $260,000 in 2013.

Gay Republican candidates are running in three of the national party’s top-targeted races this year. Should any of them win, they would be the first openly gay Republicans to win election to Congress.

(from Washington Post)

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Tenth Circuit Court to hear oral arguments for Oklahoma marriage equality

On Thursday, April 17 at 10am MT, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit will hear oral arguments in Bishop v. Smith, the landmark case that seeks the freedom to marry for same-sex couples in Oklahoma. 


In January 2014, a federal judge struck down Oklahoma’s ban on marriage for same-sex couples, and the state has appealed the ruling to the 10th Circuit. 

This case, which had been waiting for its day in court for nearly a decade, is historic — and it could very well be what brings the freedom to marry not just to Oklahoma but to every state in the 10th Circuit (including Colorado, Kansas, Utah and Wyoming) and possibly the nation, should it face consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court.