Tag: Michigan

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Federal Appeals Court issues stay on same-sex marriage ruling in Michigan

The Sixth Circuit Appeals Court has issued a temporary stay on the recent same-sex marriage ruling in Michigan.

From the Detroit News:

The U.S. Appeals Court for the Sixth Circuit has issued a temporary stay on Michigan’s gay marriage case until Wednesday.

“To allow a more reasoned consideration of the motion to stay, it is ordered that the district court’s judgment is temporarily stayed until Wednesday,” the order read.

Earlier Saturday, the appeals court issued a one-page order directing the attorneys for the same sex couple who had sought to get married to respond to Attorney General Bill Schuette’s request for an emergency stay by noon Tuesday.

According to reports, before the stay was issued 323 marriage licenses were issued and more than 200 gay couples married in four counties across Michigan on Saturday. Stay tuned to see if the stay is upheld past Wednesday.

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Update – Marriage equality in Michigan

The tweet above was sent from the Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum at the historic courthouse in Mason.  Looks like a lot of happy people got married to day.

And it looks like things will continue, at least for a couple of days.  Check this out from the Associated Press:

A federal appeals court order makes it unlikely Michigan’s same-sex marriages will be quickly halted.

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette has asked the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati to freeze Friday’s decision that overturned the state’s ban on gay marriage.

The court responded Saturday, saying it wants to hear from the winning side by noon Tuesday.

The appeals court issued the order a day after a federal judge in Detroit overturned the state’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriages.

Watch the happiness as the ceremonies began in Michigan:

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Michigan: Four Episcopal Bishops applaud overturn of state ban on same-sex marriage

Four Episcopal Bishops have released a statement applauding the ruling in Michigan which overturns the state’s marriage equality ban:

As Christians and leaders in the Episcopal Church, we applaud Judge Friedman’s decision to overturn Michigan’s ban on equal marriage as a step on the right side of history.

As the case of DeBoer v. Snyder continues to work its way through our judicial system, it is our hope that future judges will continue to find that the denial of marriage to same-sex couples is a denial of human dignity and a denial of rights under the law. We look forward in hopeful anticipation to the day when we can recognize all faithful and covenantal relationships between any two people regardless of sex, both within the Church and within our society.

Signed,

The Rt. Rev. Wendell N. Gibbs, Jr. – Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Michigan

The Rt. Rev. Whayne M. Houglund, Jr. – Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Western Michigan

The Rt. Rev. Todd Ousely – Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Eastern Michigan

The Rt. Rev. Rayford Ray – Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan

(source)

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Michigan sees first same-sex marriage this morning

https://twitter.com/BarbByrum/statuses/447346131668709376

What is believed to be Michigan’s first same-sex marriage was performed shortly after 8 a.m. today by Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum at the historic courthouse in Mason.

Glenna DeJong, 53, and Marsha Caspar, 52, both of Lansing, were married in the lobby after Byrum opened the clerk’s office at 8 a.m. and issued them a license.

“We’ve been waiting 27 years for this,” said DeJong.

Oakland, Muskegon and Washtenaw County clerks announced Friday night that licenses will be issued. The counties are expected to allow immediate weddings, waiving the typical three-day waiting period.

“As far as we’re concerned, we’re abiding by the federal court appellates,” Kestenbaum said. “We’re not typically open, but basically the Board of Commissioners strongly urged me to be open tomorrow.”

“I wasn’t expecting the ruling would go into effect immediately and I know there’s going to be attempts to get a stay, but I’m assuming there won’t be one by tomorrow,” Kestenbaum said. “If there is, then I’ll stop.”

Kestenbaum will waive the three-day waiting period and the fee. The license costs $20. He said at least one of the individuals must be a Washtenaw County resident in order for the license to be issued.

(from Detroit Free Press)

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Michigan judge: “The state defendants lost sight of what this case is truly about – people”

It should be noted that Judge Bernard Friedman, who ruled in favor of marriage equality today in Michigan, was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1988.

How will the conservative right attack him as “activist judge” when appointed by their hero?

Check out his closing statement in his ruling.

“In attempting to define this case as a challenge to ‘the will of the people, … state defendants lost sight of what this case is truly about: people.

“No court record of this proceeding could ever fully convey the personal sacrifice of these two plaintiffs who seek to ensure that the state may no longer impair the rights of their children and the thousands of othersnow being raised by same-sex couples.

“It is the Court’s fervent hope that these children will grow up ‘to understand the integrity and closeness of their own family and its concord with other families in their community and in their daily lives.

“Today’s decision is a step in that direction, and affirms the enduring principle that regardless of whoever finds favor in the eyes of the most recent majority, the guarantee of equal protection must prevail.”

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Michigan judge eviscerates discredited research by Mark Regnerus in same-sex marriage ruling

One of the best parts of Judge Bernard Friedman’s ruling that found Michigan’s same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional were his comments on Mark Regnerus’s testimony regarding his discredited “study” on the impact of same-sex couples on children.

In short, the judge eviscerated him:

“The Court finds Regnerus’s testimony entirely unbelievable and not worthy of serious consideration.

“The evidence adduced at trial demonstrated that his 2012 ‘study’ was hastily concocted at the behest of a third-party funder, which found it ‘essential that the necessary data be gathered to settle the question in the forum of public debate about what kinds of family arrangement are best for society’ and which ‘was confident that the traditional understanding of marriage will be vindicated by this study.’

“While Regnerus maintained that the funding source did not affect his impartiality as a researcher, the Court finds this testimony unbelievable. The funder clearly wanted a certain result, and Regnerus obliged.

“Whatever Regnerus may have found in this ‘study,’ he certainly cannot purport to have undertaken a scholarly research effort to compare the outcomes of children raised by same-sex couples with those of children raised by heterosexual couples.

“It is no wonder that the NFSS has been widely and severely criticized by other scholars, and that Regnerus’s own sociology department at the University of Texas has distanced itself from the NFSS in particular and Dr. Regnerus’s views in general.”

Bolding is mine.  But you have to love the “quotes” around the word study placed there by the judge.

Regnerus’ “study” has been held up by right-wing nuts as ‘evidence” that same-sex couples can’t raise children with the same success as heterosexual couples.

Thank you Judge Friedman for not only your fair and balanced ruling, but shining a light on Regnerus’ sad slop-job of a study meant only to harm LGBT families.

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Michigan judge rules same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional

From the American Foundation for Equal Rights:

Today, a federal judge in Michigan ruled unconstitutional the state’s laws prohibiting marriages for gay and lesbian couples, saying that they violate the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Judge Bernard Friedman’s decision comes two weeks after the 9-day trial in DeBoer v. Snyder came to a close.

The trial was the second time a federal court heard expert testimony on the issue of marriage for gay and lesbian couples. In January 2010, AFER’s attorneys led by Ted Olson and David Boies presented 17 witnesses in Perry v. Schwarzenegger (later Hollingsworth v. Perry).

Similar to recent rulings, Judge Friedman found that state laws violate the United States Constitution:

“Today’s decision…affirms the enduring principle that regardless of whoever finds favor in the eyes of the most recent majority, the guarantee of equal protection must prevail.”

Included in the ruling is Friedman’s opinion that findings from Mark Regnerus’s often rebuked study about same-sex families were “entirely unbelievable and not worthy of serious consideration.”

This is the sixth time a federal court has ruled such discriminatory laws unconstitutional, and the fifth state to do so in the last three months.

The lawsuit was filed by two nurses, April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, and on behalf of their three children.

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette filed an emergency request for stay of Friedman’s ruling.

The decision is expected to be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati, Ohio by the state defendants.

You can read the decision below:

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Michigan: Episcopal Bishop supports marriage equality

With the ruling in the Michigan marriage equality lawsuit due anytime time, Bishop Wendell Gibbs, of the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan, has issued this statement in support of marriage equality:

“Picking and choosing whose rights should be protected or which civil rights the church will support is neither American ‘justice for all’ nor supported by the God of salvation history. I stand in support of marriage equality and pray that our justice system will work to break down the walls of segregation, promote the humanity of all and calm our irrational fears.”

(via Pink News)

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AVENGERS in prime-time and more news

Some news stories you may have missed:

• ABC to air prime-time “behind the scenes” special for upcoming Marvel movies

• Michigan “expert witness” says gays are going to hell, but he’s not biased against them

• This gay Marine made the long journey from homeless teen to Ivy League graduate

• Isaiah Washington returns to Grey’s Anatomy seven years after gay slur scandal

• Four couples file lawsuit to overturn Indiana’s ban on marriage equality

• GOP Rep. Josh Miller opposes Medicaid for others after it saved his life

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Michigan: Defense begins badly for state defending anti-gay marriage ban

Michigan is currently in court defending the state’s anti-marriage equality ban passed in 2004.

Unfortunately, the Attorney General’s office is already knocked off balance as the first “expert” witness has been deemed “not” an expert by the judge.

“He’s very eloquent … but right now, all he is offering to us is mainly his opinions,” U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman said of the witness. “The court does not believe … that he should be allowed to testify.”

Via LGBTQ Nation:

The state of Michigan’s defense of a ban on same-sex marriage is off to a rocky start after a judge refused to allow the first witness to testify.

Sherif Girgis is a law student at Yale University and a doctoral candidate at Princeton University. He has written and talked about a historical defense of marriage between a man and a woman.

Federal Judge Bernard Friedman says Girgis will be an expert witness – someday. Friedman says Girgis’ opinions won’t help him decide this case.

The Michigan AG has requested time to find another “expert witness.”