same-sex marriage Archives

March 24, 2015August 20, 2019

Russia Fails In Attempt To Block Benefits To Same-Sex Married United Nations Staffers

By a vote of 80-43 (37 abstaining), the United Nations blocked a proposal from Russia to deny benefits to UN staffers who are legally married.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had led a proposal to offer benefits to all spouses of legally-wed gay UN staffers.

The AP reports:

Currently, family benefits for U.N. staff members are determined by their country of origin. The secretary-general’s plan will give family benefits to all staffers who are legally married — regardless of the laws on same-sex marriage in their home countries.

The secretary-general has been an outspoken supporter of gay rights.

Saudi Arabia, China, Iran, India, Egypt, Pakistan, and Syria joined Russia in opposing the benefits.

March 24, 2015August 20, 2019

Alabama: Judge Roy Moore Hopes He Doesn’t Die Fighting Marriage Equality

Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore spoke yesterday at a hate rally meant to whip up those opposed to equal rights for the LGBT community.

During his speech, Moore showed a flair for the melodramatic:

“William Barret Travis from Conecuh County, Alabama, came to draw a line in the sand at the Alamo. He took a stand in the face of an enemy that was far more numerous, but he knew that he had to make a statement for the people of Texas and that he would give his life.

“I hope I don’t give my life, but I’m going to tell you this is a very serious matter. There’s today another threat not only in Texas and Alabama, but across our country where state and federal court judges have overruled constitutional amendments passed by the people of those states, and people have just sat by and watched it out of fear of the federal government.

“But nothing in the Constitution of the United States, nothing in the laws or precedence of the federal courts give federal courts any authority over domestic policy of family and marriage in the state of Texas, in the state of Alabama, or anywhere else.”

What Moore gets wrong here is that the amendments to keep loving gay and lesbian couples from marrying are unconstitutional.

The constitution very clearly guarantees all Americans the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Clearly, marrying the person you love is a part of life’s “pursuit of happiness.”

When you couple that with the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection clause it’s clear the state’s that passed marriage equality bans years ago did so out of fear and animus, not “constitutionality.”

I’m all for Roy Moore’s right to be dramatic. Let him get onstage somewhere if that’s his thing. But working against the rights of others is a second rate act that is getting less and less approval on the national stage.

March 24, 2015August 20, 2019

Ricky Martin Features Same-Sex Wedding In Latest Music Video

Check out Ricky Martin’s second single – “Disparo El Corazon” [“Shot to the Heart”] – off his latest Spanish-language album A Quien Quiera Escucha.

The music video features reflections of same-sex couples on their wedding day, blended with Martin’s own reflection in the mirror as he sings about a love affair that went sour.

March 23, 2015August 20, 2019

Puerto Rico: Legislators Threaten Lawsuit To Force Governor To Defend Marriage Equality Ban

Maria Milagros Charbonier

Last week, the governor’s office of Puerto Rico announced it would not defend in court the current anti-same-sex marriage law currently on appeal at the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals.

Justice Secretary Cesar Miranda said that the government can no longer continue to discriminate against the gay community. “It’s neither fair nor correct to defend the constitutionality of that law,” he said. “Same-sex couples cannot get married and therefore do not have access to those rights. They should be available to all those who love each other, who take care of each other, who work and contribute to this society like everyone else.”

Now, opponents of equal rights for the LGBT community are angry and threatening to sue the governor.

“This is a slap in the face to Puerto Rican society,” said legislator Maria Milagros Charbonier. “The government should not be playing around with issues as delicate as that of family, which is the cornerstone of our island.”

“We believe it is totally contrary to the law, contrary to the constitution of Puerto Rico and contrary to the democratic foundations of our system of government for our governor to have taken a position on same-sex marriage.”

(h/t JMG)

March 23, 2015August 20, 2019

Marriage News Watch – March 23, 2015

From the American Foundation for Equal Rights:

It’s been nearly two months since marriage was supposed to start in Alabama, and the state still doesn’t have its act together.

Texas just filed a lawsuit to prevent gays and lesbians from taking family medical leave.

And it’s going to take at least five different bills to overturn Michigan’s marriage ban.

March 23, 2015August 20, 2019

Ohio Widower Continues Fight To Have Marriage Recognized

Excellent, in-depth article on the impact of marriage equality on Ohio couple Jim Obergefell and John Arthur by Buzzfeed’s Chris Geidner.

The piece begins:

Jim Obergefell and John Arthur had wanted to marry for a long time. In 2013, after the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, they decided this was the time to do it — even though Arthur was very, very ill. He had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2011, a fatal neurological disease that paralyzes the body. He was confined to his bed.

The couple could not get married in their home state of Ohio. They could, however, get married in one of the handful of states that did allow same-sex couples to marry. So their wedding took place aboard a small, specially equipped medical plane with two pilots, a nurse, and Arthur’s aunt — she performed the ceremony.

“We landed at Baltimore, sat on the tarmac for a little bit, said ‘I do,’ and 10 minutes later were in the air on the way home,” Obergefell said.

The marriage performed there on the tarmac of Baltimore-Washington International Airport has become iconic within the marriage equality movement and beyond, a testament to a couple’s commitment and to the absurd lengths the law required them to undertake for a simple ceremony.

After Arthur died in 2013, Jim sued to have the death certificate show they were married. He initially won in court, then lost in appeals court.

Now it heads to the Supreme Court.

I really encourage you to read the entire piece. All the moving pieces of a story that explain why this issue is so important.

March 20, 2015August 20, 2019

Puerto Rican Government Considers No Longer Defending Same-Sex Marriage Ban

El Nuevo Día reported Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro García Padilla’s administration is “contemplating” a “change of posture and withdraw its support of the Puerto Rican statute that only recognizes marriage as a union between a man and a woman.”

The Governor’s office filed a brief today with the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals which will soon hear a lawsuit against the Puerto Rican marriage ban. In that filing, lawyers for the commonwealth admitted that the issue of marriage equality must be examined via “heightened scrutiny” and as such could not be defended.

From the brief:

“Although the main Defendant, the Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, has defended the legal definition of marriage as the union between a man and a woman,” recent legal developments “have led the Commonwealth to recognize that Puerto Rico’s marriage ban must be examined through heightened scrutiny, whether it be under the Equal Protection Clause or the Due Process Clause.”

They continued: “Under said heightened standard, the Commonwealth cannot responsibly advance before this Court any interest sufficiently important or compelling to justify the differentiated treatment afforded so far to Plaintiffs.”

Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, a staff attorney for Lambda Legal, issued this statement:

“In declining to further defend the Commonwealth’s discriminatory marriage ban, Puerto Rico’s government finally recognizes that denying marriage to LGBT people is harmful and cannot be justified. The marriage ban’s sole purpose is to perpetuate discrimination, and it is just plain wrong.”

“Same-sex couples, LGBT people, and their families are part of Puerto Rico’s rich social and cultural fabric. Today’s actions fulfill the constitutional promises of justice and fairness for LGBT people in Puerto Rico. Simply put, discrimination is never in Puerto Rico’s best interests.”

Read the brief herehttps://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1690461/pr-1stcir.pdf.

March 18, 2015August 20, 2019

Alabama: Probate Judge Asks State Supreme Court To Amend Same-Sex Marriage Order

Montgomery County Probate Judge Steven Reed was one of the first judges to issue marriage licenses in Alabama when a federal judge ruled the state’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional.

Since then, on March 3rd, the state Supreme Court ordered all probate judges to stop issuance of licenses to same-sex couples claiming jurisdiction over the matter of marriage in the state.

Judge Reed has now asked the state Supreme Court to amend their order to acknowledge that the U.S. Supreme Court will have the final say when the high court rules on gay marriage this June.

Reed said it’s important the state not engage in “foot dragging” regarding constitutional rights.

(source)

March 18, 2015August 20, 2019

Presbyterian Church Give Final Approval For Same-Sex Marriage

From the New York Times:

After three decades of debate over its stance on homosexuality, members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted on Tuesday to change the definition of marriage in the church’s constitution to include same-sex marriage.

The final approval by a majority of the church’s 171 regional bodies, known as presbyteries, enshrines a change recommended last year by the church’s General Assembly. The vote amends the church’s constitution to broaden marriage from being between “a man and a woman” to “two people, traditionally a man and a woman.”

“Finally, the church in its constitutional documents fully recognizes that the love of gays and lesbian couples is worth celebrating in the faith community,” said the Rev. Brian D. Ellison, executive director of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians, which advocates gay inclusion in the church. “There is still disagreement, and I don’t mean to minimize that, but I think we are learning that we can disagree and still be church together.”