(h/t JMG)
Updated Marriage Equality Map – October 2013
New Jersey: Stay denied! Marriage equality WILL begin Monday
Oh, yeah! Happy dance time!
From Lambda Legal: Today the New Jersey Supreme Court, agreeing with the lower court’s Sept. 27th ruling, denied the State’s motion to postpone allowing same-sex couples to marry. Lambda Legal had filed a brief on behalf of Garden State Equality, New Jersey’s statewide LGBT advocacy organization, and six same-sex couples who seek the freedom to marry, asking the Court to deny the motion for a stay.
In today’s decision, the Court wrote:
What is the public’s interest in a case like this? Like Judge Jacobson, we can find no public interest in depriving a group of New Jersey residents of their constitutional right to equal protection while the appeals process unfolds.
Nevada: Lambda Legal takes marriage equality appeal to Ninth Circuit Appeals Court
MY home state!
Today Lambda Legal filed its opening brief with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a case on behalf of eight same-sex couples challenging the amendment to Nevada’s constitution and other state laws banning marriage for same-sex couples. “The world has changed dramatically since we filed this lawsuit over a year ago,” said Tara Borelli, Staff Attorney in Lambda Legal’s Western Regional Office. “After the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling striking down Section 3 of DOMA, Nevada’s ban on marriage for same-sex couples has become exponentially more harmful to same-sex couples who are barred from a sweeping array of federal benefits as well.”
The brief argues: “As the arbiter of which couples may be married in the State, Nevada thus holds the key to access for the sweeping array of spousal rights and responsibilities available under federal law, and keeps them locked away from same-sex couples under the marriage ban. By foreclosing same-sex couples from marriage, Nevada inflicts virtually the same collection of federal harms and deprivations on unmarried same-sex couples as DOMA previously did, since nearly all federal benefits are unavailable to unmarried couples, regardless of whether they are registered domestic partners.”
(via press release)
Oregon to recognize out of state same-sex marriages
According to Williamette Week, Oregon will now recognize legal same-sex marriages from out of state:
In a memo sent to all state agencies today, state Chief Operating Officer Michael Jordan says any gay couple who wed in a state where same-sex marriage is legal will now be eligible for the same benefits as any other married couple.
“Oregon agencies must recognize all out-of-state marriages for the purposes of administering state programs,” Jordan writes. “That includes legal, same sex marriages performed in other states and countries.”
Michigan: Federal judge to hear marriage equality ban challenge
From NBC:
A federal judge said Wednesday that a lawsuit filed by a lesbian couple seeking the right to wed in Michigan will go to trial early next year in a long-awaited legal challenge to the state’s same-sex marriage ban.
U.S. District Court Judge Bernard Friedman said the trial will begin Feb. 25. He said he wanted to hear if experts believed the state had a legitimate interest in prohibiting same-sex marriage, according to NBC affiliate, WDIV-Detroit.
At least 11 county clerks offices had been poised to issue licenses to gay couples if Friedman had ruled in favor of overturning the same-sex marriage ban, according to LGBT advocacy group Equality Michigan.
New Jersey: 61% want Gov. Christie to stop blocking marriage equality
From MSNBC:
A majority of voters in New Jersey want current Gov. Chris Christie to drop his appeal of a state judge’s ruling that gay and lesbian couples have the right to marry, a new poll found.
Sixty-one percent of the state’s residents oppose the governor’s wish to block marriage equality, and 32% agree with him, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday. Opposition to the appeal is 79% among Democrats and 42% among Christie’s fellow Republicans.
North Carolina: Same-sex couples line up to file marriage license applications
Last night, North Carolina Buncombe County Register of Wills Drew Reisinger’s announced he would accept BUT not sign marriage applications from same-sex couples.
And so, the line began to form early today. From the AP:
An official in western North Carolina has accepted marriage license requests from 10 same-sex couples, despite a 2012 amendment to the state constitution forbidding such marriages.
Buncombe County Register of Deeds Drew Reisinger said he will hold the licenses and ask state Attorney General Roy Cooper for legal advice. Reisinger said he thinks the state’s ban is unconstitutional.
Cooper said Monday that he supports gay marriage. But he has said he’ll defend the state’s constitutional ban on gay marriage. A spokeswoman for Cooper’s office said the marriage licenses cannot be issued.
The state Attorney General has expressed his support for marriage equality but has stated he will defend the state constitutional ban until overturned by the courts or the people.
Watch the video below, which will make you beam as Carol McCrory and Brenda Clark, a couple for 25 years, apply for their marriage license and Drew Reisinger becomes a hero.
Newark Star-Ledger to Gov. Christie on marriage equality – Be on the right side of history by getting out of the way
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| Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey |
Fantastic op-ed from the editorial board of the Newark Star-Ledger today:
Christie’s words — leave it to voters, not judges or politicians — portray a man who wants history to take its own course, without meddling from the government. His actions, on the other hand, have stonewalled New Jersey’s march toward equality at every turn. Christie could borrow a page from President Obama, who allowed his stance on same-sex marriage to evolve and ultimately dropped the federal government’s defense of the doomed Defense of Marriage Act. Or from Christie’s own party, Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, who reversed course on same-sex marriage after learning his son is gay.
Christie says New Jersey’s best path toward a marriage equality decision is to hold a referendum. That gives Christie his political out — and leaves the basic rights of gay people subject to the whims of a political campaign. The civil liberties of a minority shouldn’t be subject to majority rule. The popular consensus on same-sex marriage is inevitable. Christie can position himself on the right side of history, in this case, simply by getting out of its way.
(h/t JMG)
Poll: Growing minority of conservatives support marriage equality
Pew Research Center has a new poll that shows over the past decade a growing minority of conservatives are starting to support marriage equality.
Nearly three in ten of Republicans (29%) and political conservatives (30%) are gay marriage supporters.
Twelve years ago, 21% of Republicans and 18% of conservatives expressed this view.
‘Adults under age 30 who say they are Republican or lean Republican are much more supportive of same-sex marriage (54%) than Republicans 65 and older (18%),’ the study said.
BREAKING: New Jersey Supreme Court to hear marriage equality case
All of a sudden, marriage equality is heading to the New Jersey state Supreme Court.
From the AP:
The state’s highest court on Friday agreed to hear a case on whether gay marriage should be legal and whether same-sex weddings can be performed while it decides.
A lower-court judge ruled last month that the state must legalize same-sex marriage starting Oct. 21, but Gov. Chris Christie’s administration said in a court filing Friday that a single judge should not be able to force New Jersey to do so.
The argument was included in a brief the state submitted in support of its emergency appeal after a state judge refused to delay her order that New Jersey legalize same-sex marriage as of Oct. 21.
“To overhaul such an ancient social institution prematurely, precipitously, or in a manner ultimately deemed unnecessary would injure not only the public interest, but the State that represents this interest,” the state attorney general’s office said in its brief.
The state Supreme Court accepted the case Friday, skipping the normal course of letting an appeals court hear it first. Oral arguments were scheduled for January.
The issue at hand is that the state Supreme Court ruled years ago that New Jersey had to offer at least “equal” rights regarding marital status to LGBT couples. New Jersey passed civil unions as a compromise, but now with DOMA gone civil unions are now not “equal” to marriage because the Federal government doesn’t recognize civil unions as “marriage.”
A few steps will happen here:
1. The plaintiffs – the couples suing New Jersey – have until Tuesday to respond through their lawyers.
2. The NJ Supreme Court may place a stay on the October 21st date to begin marriage equality. Or they may not. We shall see.
3. The Supreme Court would then hear oral arguments on the full case beginning January 6 or 7.
Stay tuned.