Tag: same-sex marriage

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Federal Judge rules Colorado’s same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional

District Court Judge C. Scott Crabtree on Wednesday ruled the 2006 Colorado voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage violates the state and federal constitutions. He immediately placed a stay on the ruling pending appeal.

This is the 24th consecutive ruling in favor of marriage equality since June of 2013,

Attorneys for nine couples argued that the state’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage violates the U.S. Constitution.

Crabtree is the 16th judge to void a state’s gay marriage ban since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that the federal government has to recognize gay marriages in the states.

Freedom To Marry issued this response:

Yet another court has concluded that there is no good reason for denying gay couples the freedom to marry, and has found marriage discrimination unconstitutional. It is time that Colorado’s gay couples and their loved ones be able to share in the joy and security that marriage brings, and time for the Supreme Court to bring the freedom to marry home nationwide. Every day of denial is a day of wrongful deprivation. Today’s latest victory in the Mountain West shows that all of America is ready for the freedom to marry.

You can read the ruling below.

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Utah Attorney General taking marriage equality case to US Supreme Court

Last month a three-judge panel in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that Utah’s same-sex marriage ban was unconstitutional.

AG Sean Reyes had three options:
1. Accept the ruling by the 10th Circuit panel
2. Ask for a en banc review (full panel of judges)
3. Head to the US Supreme Court

Today was the last day to opt for number 2; number 1 wasn’t going to happen; and this afternoon the Utah AG’s office confirmed the case will go to SCOTUS.

Here’s the statement from the AG’s office via Utah reporter Ben Winslow:

The NCLR issued this response:

We want this case to move forward to a final resolution as quickly as possible. Every day, loving and committed same-sex couples and their families in Utah are being harmed by the continued enforcement of measures that deny them equal dignity, security and protection—even though both the federal district court and the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals have held they violate fundamental constitutional guarantees. We look forward to the day every family in Utah has the freedom to marry, and we will work hard to make that happen as soon as possible.

Freedom To Marry offered this:

The Supreme Court should take this case and swiftly move to end marriage discrimination across the country. Every day of delay is a day of hardship for couples and their loved ones wrongly denied the freedom to marry and respect for their families. The American people support the freedom to marry, but the law still discriminates for too many American couples in too many states.

It should be noted that SCOTUS can choose to not take the appeal. Should that happen, the 10th Circuit ruling would go into effect for Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico and Wyoming.

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Marriage equality foes getting nervous in Florida

Liberty Counsel chairman Mat Staver, who yesterday testified in the Monroe County marriage lawsuit, is quoted in this press release complaining that the state of Florida isn’t doing enough to “defend” marriage and that Liberty Counsel is doing all the heavy lifting:

“Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is giving only window dressing to the Florida Marriage Amendment.

“Bondi sent one of her staff attorneys to argue the case against the constitutional amendment, and her office filed a short, 14-page brief only a week before the court date.

“If Attorney General Pam Bondi does not want to present a vigorous defense, she owes it to the voters of Florida to step down and allow someone else to represent the interests of the State.

“I call on Governor Rick Scott to get off the sidelines and appoint an independent counsel who can adequately represent the people of Florida.”

Can somebody please call the waahmbulance?

Here’s a news report of the hearing that took place in Florida yesterday…

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New study shows children of same-sex parents do as well or better than peers

A new study of 315 same-sex couples, mostly lesbians, and their 500 children disputes the claims of anti-gay marriage folks that same-sex couples can’t effectively raise children.

 In fact, in some ways, those children do better than their peers.

From Salon:

“We found that children from same-sex families scored, on average, 6 percent better on two key measures, general health and family cohesion, even when controlling for a number sociodemographic factors such as parent education and household income,” wrote lead researcher Simon Crouch. “But on most health measures, including emotional behaviour and physical functioning, there was no difference when compared with children from the general population.”

The finding same-sex couples make perfectly fine parents echoes plenty of other research to that effect. That their children appear in some ways to be at an advantage, the authors suggest, could have something to do with the way their parents don’t default to gender stereotypes, creating a “more harmonious family unit and therefore feeding on to better health and well being.”

Those benefits were somewhat undercut, however, by the continued experience of stigma, which negatively impacted their mental and emotional well-being.

One of the biggest arguments against marriage equality by the haters is that “marriage is about children” and “children need both biological parents to thrive.”

This one study echoes the findings of several studies – that children do well in homes where they are well-cared for.  Period.

Read the study at this link.

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Missouri’s Episcopal Diocese supports challenge to same-sex marriage ban

Bishop George Wayne Smith

Welcome news from the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri.

The City of St. Louis recently issued marriage licenses to four same-sex couples in opposition to the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.  The Attorney General for Missouri, Chris Koster, subsequently sued the city to stop further licenses from being issued.

Now, Episcopal Diocese of Missouri has issued a statement in support of overturning the ban:

Bishop George Wayne Smith said in a statement that he “supports St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and City Counselor Winston Calvert in their challenge to Missouri law prohibiting same-sex marriage.”

“Even as the Episcopal Church works to clarify our theological understanding of and pastoral practices around same-sex blessings, I believe that it is not the place of the State of Missouri to deny the privileges and responsibilities of marriage to anyone, basing that denial solely on the gender of the couple,” Smith said.

(via OnTop)

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Indiana: 7th Circuit Court orders state to recognize terminally-ill lesbian’s marriage

Amy Sandler (L) and Niki Quasney (R)

Today, the day after Lambda Legal filed papers with the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals asking the court on an emergency basis to lift its stay to allow respect for the marriage of one couple, Niki Quasney and Amy Sandler, because Niki is battling Stage IV ovarian cancer, Attorney General Greg Zoeller filed papers again demanding that the Court deny respect to the Indiana couple’s marriage.

Camilla Taylor, Marriage Project Director for Lambda Legal, said:

Attorney General Zoeller’s callous disregard for this family’s circumstances is heartless, cruel, and unbecoming of a public official charged with representing the interests of all Hoosiers. He is taking steps that no other attorney general anywhere in the country has in fighting to deny respect to the marriage of only one couple facing very significant health issues.

Attorney General Greg Zoeller will not have the last word, justice will. This Indiana family is undergoing tremendous stress while they courageously fight Ms. Quasney’s stage four ovarian cancer. Their marriage doesn’t harm anyone in Indiana, it simply protects them and their children.

See the written order from the court below:

(from Lambda Legal Blog)

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Federal judge rules Kentucky same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional

Federal judge rules Kentucky's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional

U.S. District Court Judge John G. Heyburn II ruled today that the state of Kentucky must allow same-sex marriage.

Via Chris Geidner at Buzzfeed:

“The ability to marry in one’s state is arguably much more meaningful, to those on both sides of the debate, than the recognition of a marriage performed in another jurisdiction,” U.S. District Court Judge John G. Heyburn II wrote. “But it is for that very reason that the Court is all the more confident in its ruling today.”

He ruled that “to the extent Ky. Rev. Stat. §§ 402.005 and .020(1)(d) and Section 233A of the Kentucky Constitution deny same-sex couples the right to marry in Kentucky, they violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and they are void and unenforceable.”

This is the 23rd consecutive ruling in favor of marriage equality since last summer’s decision by the US Supreme Court which gutted the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act.

The judge did issue a stay on the ruling pending the upcoming appeal.  So, no same-sex marriages for now.

Back in February, the same judge ruled that same-sex marriages performed in other states had to be recognized by the state. The Governor of Kentucky, Steve Beshear, has already filed an appeal with the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, and will see oral arguments for that case sometime in August.

Freedom to Marry founder and president Evan Wolfson issued this statement:

Today a Republican-appointed federal judge in Kentucky held – as have more than 20 other judges and as did the U.S. Supreme Court last year – that discriminatory state marriage bans are unconstitutional. It is wrong for the government to deny same-sex couples the freedom to marry the person they love; a freedom that is part of every American’s liberty and pursuit of happiness. Today’s ruling in Kentucky underscores that America — all of America — is ready for the freedom to marry, and the Supreme Court should bring the country to national resolution as soon as possible.”

(via Buzzfeed)

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Nevada gets Ninth Circuit Appeals Court date for marriage equality

Mark your calendars – September 8th is the date that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear 20 minutes of oral arguments in the case of Beverly Sevcik v. Brian Sandoval.

Eight couples sued the state of Nevada over it’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in 2012. That judge upheld the law sending the case to appeals.

What has changed since 2012, you might ask? In February of this year, the Nevada Attorney General dropped opposition to the lawsuit saying due to recent rulings the law was “indefensible.” With the state’s governor and AG stepping aside from a case they say is unwinnable, only the Coalition for the Protection of Marriage is left to argue it alone.

Currently, same-sex couples can marry in 19 states and the District of Columbia.

(source)