LGBTQ news and entertainment
The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear 6 gay marriage cases whose outcome could affect the laws in Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Michigan.
The Kentucky and Michigan cases involve the right to marry, while the Ohio and Tennessee cases focus on the recognition of same-sex marriages from other states.
Check back here throughout the day for updates as the cases are presented.
An Ohio hospital is refusing the request of a lesbian widow who has asked for her deceased spouse’s medical records:
Officials at Bethesda North Hospital, located in Blue Ash, a Cincinnati suburb, told local TV station WCPO that federal and state privacy laws prohibit them from releasing the records of Barbara Graham to her surviving partner, Marcia Gallas.
Graham died of cancer on Easter.
The women were married in Canada in 2003.
There are no federal laws that prohibit the hospital from releasing the records. What the hospital officials probably are referring to is that since Ohio state does not recognize same-sex marriage (yet), they will not either.
Another hospital where the couple received care – Cincinnati-based Jewish Hospital – had no problem releasing Graham’s records to Gallas.
After 50 years together, Henry and George traveled to New York City to legally wed.
But once they crossed the state lines to return to their home state of Ohio, the legally married couple was treated as nothing more than legal strangers.
Nearly half a century of love and commitment — and they want nothing more than to be respected in the state they call home.
(from Marriage Ohio)
An Ohio man, Edmond Aviv, was ordered to spend five hours at a street corner with a sign declaring he’s a bully said his sentence was unfair and the judge who gave it to him ruined his life.
Municipal Court Judge Gayle Williams-Byers ordered Aviv to display the sign for five hours Sunday. The judge selected the wording for it:
“I AM A BULLY! I pick on children that are disabled, and I am intolerant of those that are different from myself. My actions do not reflect an appreciation for the diverse South Euclid community that I live in.”
Bravo to the Judge Williams-Byers. My opinion is – if you do it, if you say it – OWN it. Be the icky, bigot you are. And be proud of it. Otherwise, adjust and learn that the world embraces and celebrates every kind of person.
News coming out of Ohio that a federal judge will rule the state’s ban on recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states to be unconstitutional.
From Buzzfeed:
In a docket entry summarizing the hearing, the court stated, “The Court anticipates striking down as unconstitutional under all circumstances Ohio’s bans on recognizing legal same-sex marriages from other states.”
Ohio’s 2004 law and constitutional amendment barring same-sex couples from marrying also bar the state from recognizing the marriages of same-sex couples performed elsewhere. The case is not about whether Ohio must issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but only the recognition portion of the state’s laws.
This case, brought in February on behalf of Brittani Henry and Brittni Rogers, initially was about birth certificates, and being able to have parents’ marriages recognized on them, but, per Friday’s docket entry, the decision will be finding the recognition ban unconstitutional “under all circumstances.”
The ruling is expected by April 14.
Should the state choose to appeal the ruling (very likely), the case would head to the Sixth Circuit Appeals Court where already lined up are cases regarding marriage equality from Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.
Upon word of Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona vetoing SB-1062 last night, Ohio legislators withdrew their own “religious freedom” bill for their state.
Good.
Forward.
New Quinnipiac University Poll shows former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leading all potential 2016 GOP presidential nominees:
Secretary Clinton tops Gov. Christie 49 – 36 percent in an early look at the 2016 presidential race in this critical swing state. The Democrat tops other possible Republican contenders:
51 – 36 percent over former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush
50 – 36 percent over U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida
51 – 38 percent over U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky
49 – 40 percent over U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin
51 – 34 percent over U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas
51 – 39 percent over Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
Overall, Ohio voters say by a margin of 55%-39% that Hillary would make a good president. No Republican in the poll had positive numbers on that question.
Ohio’s pro-marriage equality group FreedomOhio has gathered almost twice as many signatures as they need to qualify for the 2014 or 2016 ballot, but they aren’t stopping there:
The Columbus Dispatch reports:
The group pushing to overturn Ohio’s 12-year-old constitutional amendment limiting marriage to a man and a woman says it has 650,000 signatures on a petition to put a gay-marriage measure on the statewide ballot. FreedomOhio’s goal: a million signatures by this summer’s filing deadline for the November election. Only 385,247 valid signatures are needed. “We see strongest support amongst women, single moms, minority and youth voters, which is also termed the ‘rising American electorate,'” said the group’s leader, Ian James. “At FreedomOhio, we call these folks ‘the base.'”
But even if the group gets the million names, the decision on whether to go to the ballot in 2014 or 2016 remains up in the air. It will depend, James said, on “having the resources to identify and mobilize majority support.”
The most recent poll shows a slight edge in support for the freedom to marry, 48%-44%.
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| Ohio couple John Arthur and Jim Obergefell marry in Maryland |
In a narrow but important ruling, a federal judge has issued a decision saying married same-sex couples in Ohio have a right to be designated as such on death certificates.
In his decision Monday, Judge Timothy Black orders state officials to recognize such unions on death certificates. Although his ruling applies narrowly, his statements about Ohio’s gay-marriage ban are sweeping and expected to incite further litigation challenging the law.
In his lengthy decision, the Cincinnati-based judge says that “once you get married lawfully in one state, another state cannot summarily take your marriage away.”
He says the U.S. Constitution recognizes the right to remain married as a fundamental liberty.
Black’s decision stems from a lawsuit filed in July by two gay Ohio men whose spouses recently died and wanted to be recognized on their death certificates as married.
So basically, if you’re a gay couple that’s married, Ohio has to recognize that once you’re dead.
A new poll shows big shift in support for marriage equality in Ohio over the past ten years:
In 2004, 62 percent, of those voting, supported a constitutional amendment in Ohio to ban same-sex marriage. The latest poll shows 56 percent of Ohioans support a new amendment that would allow same-sex marriages but also allow “houses of worship the right to refuse to marry a same sex couple.”
The poll, conducted by Public Policy Polling (PPP), tested the full text of the amendment, allowing respondents to evaluate the importance of the amendment’s religious freedom protections.
Read more here.