LGBTQ news and entertainment
The Associated Press reports that the Scottish Parliament has overwhelmingly voted in favor of a same-sex marriage bill, allowing the first such ceremonies to take place by the end of the year.
Scottish Health Secretary Alex Neil called the bill’s approval “one of the great historic days of the parliament.”
Good times, kids. Remember this… 🙂
Scotland’s Parliament today voted by 105 to 18 on final approval of the Marriage and Civil Partnership Bill. The first Scottish gay and lesbian weddings will take place sometime this fall.
The Scottish government said the move was the right thing to do but Scotland’s two main churches were opposed to it.
Churches and religious organizations will have the option to choose whether or not to perform same-sex marriages. No part of the religious community will be forced to hold same-sex marriage ceremonies in churches.
Freedom to Marry founder and president Evan Wolfson issued this statement:
With the freedom to marry bill clearing its final hurdle in Scotland today, same-sex couples can finally share in the freedom to marry alongside their neighbors in England and Wales. Today’s win comes after a rich and extensive debate, and after an overwhelming victory in its previous parliamentary vote. Freedom to Marry looks forward from afar to seeing the first Scottish marriages performed in autumn; and will continue working along the Roadmap to Victory needed to ensure that the United States joins them on the right side of history.
(source)
The final vote on marriage equality today will take place today in Scotland.
Although LGBT couples in Scotland have civil partnership protections, the Marriage and Civil Partnerships Bill would provide full marriage equality to Scots.
The legislation is expected to pass with a wide margin.
From BBC:
The legislation, which is facing its final vote in the Holyrood parliament, passed its previous parliamentary hurdle by 98 votes to 15, with five abstentions.
MSPs have been allowed a free vote, rather than along party lines, and voting numbers for the last stage are expected to remain broadly the same as on the previous occasion.
Gay rights organisations, including the Equality Network and Stonewall Scotland, and a range of other groups, have supported the legislation.
But the Scottish Catholic Church and Church of Scotland oppose the move, and have said they have no plans to conduct same-sex marriages.
Same-sex marriages will begin in England and Wales on March 29th.
Scotland’s new law won’t take effect until later this fall.
The first hearing in the Virginia marriage equality case of Bostic v. Rainey will be held at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia before Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen at 10am.
The Bostic Plaintiffs’ lawsuit – first filed in July 2013 in Norfolk – argues that the Virginia Marriage Amendment and laws banning same-sex marriage are unconstitutional because they violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, violate Due Process, and single out gays and lesbians for a disfavored legal status, thereby creating a category of “second-class citizens.”
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring will attend the morning’s hearing.
Virginia Solicitor General Stuart Raphael will argue on behalf of the Commonwealth.
More info here.
• A surprise twist in AFER’s Virginia lawsuit
• The Indiana House passes a marriage ban, but in so doing could actually delay its progress
• Utah and Oklahoma cases are speeding towards the Supreme Court, and our chances for victory have greatly improved in Nevada
• Plus there’s progress this week in West Virginia, Hawaii, and Kansas
A judge in Oahu has ruled that the recent marriage equality act in Hawaii is constitutional:
First Circuit Judge Karl Sakamoto ruled Wednesday that the Hawaii Marriage Equality Act of 2013 is constitutional under both the state and federal constitutions.
Hawaii Attorney General David M. Louie issued a statement saying the ruling “unequivocally affirmed the right of people to marry the person they love without regard to gender.”
“This is a very good day for the people of Hawaii,” Louie said.
Two injunctions were sought by Republican state Rep. Bob McDermott of Oahu. The first before the law was even signed into law.
The first injunction was to stop the governor from signing the bill into law; the second to stop the state from issuing licenses to same-sex couples. Both were denied.
Since the law went into effect 670 same-sex couples have been married in Hawaii.
Rep. McDermott says he plans to appeal.
Federal Judge Robert C. Chambers has ruled that the lawsuit brought by Lambda Legal against West Virginia’s same-sex marriage ban may proceed.
However, the judge said without plaintiffs legally married out-of-state, that specific aspect of the suit must be amended.
None of the couples named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit has an out-of-state marriage license, so they don’t have legal standing to challenge the fact West Virginia won’t recognize them, U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers said in his order Wednesday.
Chambers gave the plaintiffs – three same-sex couples from West Virginia — until Feb. 12 to amend their complaint.
Karen Loewy, attorney for Lambda Legal, said the issue is being considered but the team is leaning against adding new plaintiffs.
The judge also required that more defendants be added to the lawsuit or explain why suing only two county clerks would affect law in the entire state.
The Salt Lake Tribune is reporting that April 10th will be the day the 10th Circuit of Appeals will hear oral arguments on marriage equality in Utah:
On Wednesday, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals announced oral arguments in the state’s appeal will take place April 10.
The case will be decided by a panel of three judges, who will be randomly assigned about 10 days before the hearing.
The 10th Circuit has agreed to let the same panel handle an appeal from Oklahoma, where a lower court struck down a similar ban on same-sex marriage.
The court also will allow amicus briefs to be filed jointly in the Utah and Oklahoma cases.
The Indiana House on Tuesday approved a proposal to change the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage. The vote on House Joint Resolution 3 was 57-40.
The bill now moves to the Senate, which must approve the amended language. Yesterday, a sentence that banned ANY legal relationship that is “identical or substantially similar” to marriage was removed from the amendment.
If the Senate approves the bill as passed today, it will not go to the ballot in 2014.
A constitutional amendment needs to pass two consecutive, separately-elected General Assemblies and be approved by a voter majority in a public referendum before becoming part of the constitution.
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| Chris Smith via his Facebook page |
Openly gay Chris Smith, son of state Rep. Milo Smith who chairs Indiana’s House Elections and Apportionment Committee, shared his feelings about his father advancing an anti-gay marriage bill on the Facebook page of the LGBT advocacy group Indiana Equality this past Saturday, days after his father’s committee passed the ban.
“I’m not here to badmouth my dad,” he wrote. “I’m terribly disappointed in his decision and beliefs, but he’s not going to change them now if he hasn’t after all these years of knowing I am gay. I am here to support you and my friends who remain in Indiana. They are my extended family.”
On Sunday, he wrote on his own Facebook page, “My stand puts me in clear conflict with my own father, who is a state legislator and has voted to pass the resolution out of his committee and onto the full House for a vote.”
Additionally, speaking to Nuvo, a weekly publication in Indianapolis, Chris Smith said he resides in California and is in a domestic partnership. He said overall, he felt “really sad.”
“I’m embarrassed. I’m really disgusted by the whole thing. I’m confused as to what I should do,” he said, noting his father had not given him a heads up about the legislation or how he would vote.
A spokeswoman for Indiana state House Republicans, Tory Flynn, said she spoke with Milo Smith after his son’s post went up. “He stated that he loves his son very much and this is a personal issue,” she said.
The House Elections and Apportionment Committee was never even supposed to vote on HJR-3, which would amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage. The measure was originally set to receive a vote in the House Judiciary Committee, but after backers realized there weren’t enough votes for it to pass — several Republicans had expressed concerns — House Speaker Brian Bosma (R) moved the measure at the last minute to Smith’s committee, which was considered more conservative.
More at Huffington Post.